The lord ordered the writing material.
What new animals or birds had taken possession of Franklin's fancy? No new animals or birds, but old ones in new relations.
Franklin wrote out his fable and proceeded to read it. It was a short one, but the effect was direct and surprising. The lord's face must have changed when he listened to it, for it was a time when such things struck to the heart.
The fable not only showed Dr. Franklin's invention, but his courage. It was as follows: "Once upon a time an eagle, scaling round a farmer's barn and espying a hare, darted down upon him like a sunbeam, seized him in his claws, and remounted with him to the air. He soon found that he had a creature of more courage and strength than a hare, for which, notwithstanding the keenness of his eyesight, he had mistaken a cat.
"The snarling and scrambling of his prey were very inconvenient, and, what was worse, she had disengaged herself from his talons, grasped his body with her four limbs, so as to stop his breath, and seized fast hold of his throat with her teeth.
"'Pray,' said the eagle, 'let go your hold, and I will release you.'
"'Very fine,' said the cat; 'I have no fancy to fall from this height and be crushed to death. You have taken me up, and you shall stoop and let me down.' The eagle thought it necessary to stoop accordingly."
The eagle, of course, represented England, and the cat America.
Dr. Franklin was a lover of little children and animals—among pet animals, of the American squirrel.
When he returned to England the second time as an agent of the colonies, he wished to make some presents to his English friends who had families.