"I omitted to tell you," said the cock, "that the seat you happen by the merest chance to occupy is a contested one, and has been fruitful of hens to this vexatious weasel. I don't know how often I have been partially widowed by the sneaking villain."
For obvious reasons there was no audible reply.
This narrative is intended to teach the folly—the worse than sin!—of trumping your partner's ace.
LXIV.
A fat cow who saw herself detected by an approaching horse while perpetrating stiff and ungainly gambols in the spring sunshine, suddenly assumed a severe gravity of gait, and a sedate solemnity of expression that would have been creditable to a Brahmin.
"Fine morning!" said the horse, who, fired by her example, was curvetting lithely and tossing his head.
"That rather uninteresting fact," replied the cow, attending strictly to her business as a ruminant, "does not impress me as justifying your execution of all manner of unseemly contortions, as a preliminary to accosting an entire stranger."
"Well, n—no," stammered the horse; "I—I suppose not. Fact is I—I—no offence, I hope."
And the unhappy charger walked soberly away, dazed by the preternatural effrontery of that placid cow.
When overcome by the dignity of any one you chance to meet, try to have this fable about you.