"Ah, my son," replied the Old Mouse, "learn while you live to distrust
appearances. The first strange creature was nothing but a Fowl, that will ere long
be killed, and, when put on a dish in the pantry, we may make a delicious supper
of his bones, while the other was a nasty, sly, and bloodthirsty hypocrite of a
Cat, to whom no food is so welcome as a young and juicy Mouse like yourself."
The Wolf and the Mastiff
A Wolf, who was almost skin and bone, so well did the Dogs of the
neighbourhood keep guard over their masters' property, met, one moonshiny
night, a sleek Mastiff, who was, moreover, as strong as he was fat. The Wolf
would gladly have supped off him, but saw that there would first be a great fight,
for which, in his condition, he was not prepared; so, bidding the Dog good-
evening very humbly, he praised his prosperous looks.
"It would be easy for you," replied the Mastiff, "to get as fat as I am if you liked.
Quit this forest, where you and your fellows live so wretchedly, and often die
with hunger. Follow me, and you will fare much better.'
"What shall I have to do?" asked the Wolf.
"Almost nothing," answered the Dog; "only chase away the beggars and fawn
upon the folks of the house. You will, in return, be paid with all sorts of nice
things—bones of fowls and pigeons—to say nothing of many a friendly pat on
the head."
The Wolf, at the picture of so much comfort, nearly shed tears of joy. They
trotted off together, but, as they went along, the Wolf noticed a bare spot on the
Dog's neck.
"What is that mark?" said he. "Oh, nothing," said the Dog.
"How nothing?" urged the Wolf. "Oh, the merest trifle," answered the
Dog; "the collar which I wear when I am tied up is the cause of it."
"Tied up!" exclaimed the Wolf, with a sudden stop; "tied up? Can you not
always run where you please, then?"