122 THE PLEASANT HISTORY OF CHAP,

because I escaped; only of one of my ears
he utterly deprived me, which I beseech your
Majesty in your royal nature to pity, and that
this bloody murderer may not live thus to
afflict your poor subjects.’

Now whilst the coney was thus speaking to
the King, there came flying into the court
Corbaut the rook, who, coming before the

 

King, said, ‘Great King, I beseech you, vouch-
safe to hear me, and pity the complaint I shall
utter. So it is, that I went this morning with
Sharpbeak my wife to recreate ourselves on
the heath, and there we found Reynard the fox
laid on the ground like a dead carcass, his eyes
staring, his tongue lolling out of his mouth,
like a dead hound, so that we, wondering at
his strange plight, began to feel and touch his