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Now you who have read this story will remember how Two-Legs, many years ago, mastered all the animals on earth.
Those which he could use and which obeyed him as they should he tamed and took into his service. Those which he could not employ he let alone, provided only that they left him and his in peace. If they did not, then he waged war upon them, nor ceased until he had prevailed against them. He always ended by prevailing, for he was the cleverest, you see, and therefore the strongest.
And, little by little, the tame animals grew so much accustomed to being with him and so completely lost the qualities with which they had been wont to shift for themselves that they could no longer do without their bondage. When, once in a way, they escaped and tried to live like the other, free, wild animals, they could not manage at all, but perished miserably.
But the wild animals which Two-Legs had no use for lurked round about in their hiding-places and cavilled and muttered and made no progress and did themselves no good.