The Rake stepped back in line with the others, and they all waited for the Elephant to speak.
"Ahem!" said the animal judge very loudly. "There is one more to be heard. Proceed, Mr. Pick."
The Pick, who had at least two good points in his favor, stepped forward, made a stiff little bow with his handle, and said:
"What my friends Rake and Shovel have told you, of course is true. They are useful, each in his own way. But I do the really hard work of the garden. When the earth is packed hard and dry, so that neither the Shovel nor the Rake can be used, Jake always comes and gets me. I am larger and stronger than either the Rake or the Shovel, though of course the Rake has a longer handle. But it is a very thin handle, and if Jake struck as hard a blow with the Rake as he strikes with me, the Rake's handle would break. And no matter how hard he digs the Shovel into the hard ground, no earth can be turned over until I first loosen it. So I claim the prize."
The Pick stepped back in line with the other two, all three bowed politely and waited.
"What am I to do now?" asked the Elephant.
"You must act as Judge and tell which of us is the most useful, to decide who gets the prize," said the Rake.
"That is it," chimed in the Pick and the Shovel.
"This is very hard—very hard indeed," sighed the Elephant. "In fact I never before knew how hard it was to decide between right and wrong. Let me think a minute."
He passed his trunk over his head, which was beginning to ache with all the talk he had listened to.