(1667)
In a dark wood where wild beasts lived there once lay a man’s boot. How it came there, I can not say, for no man had been there—at least the wild beasts had not seen one in all their lives. But there the boot was, and when the beasts saw it they all came round to find out what it was. Such a thing was quite new to them; but they were not much at a loss for all that.
“Well, there is no doubt as to what it is, I say,” said the bear.
“Oh, of course not,” said the wolf and the goat and all the beasts and birds in one breath.
“Of course,” said the bear, “it is the rind of some kind of fruit off a tree—the fruit of the cork, I should say. This is cork, it is plain to see,” and he showed the sole of the boot.
“Oh, just hear him! just hear him!” cried all the beasts and birds.
“It is not that at all,” said the wolf, with a glance of scorn at the bear. “Of course it is some kind of nest. Look; here is the hole for the bird to go in at, and here is the deep part for the eggs and young ones to be safe. No doubt at all, of course not!”
“Oh, oh!” cried the bear and the goat and all the birds and beasts, “just hear what he says! It is not that at all.”
“I should think not,” said the goat. “It is quite a plain case. Look at this long root,” and he showed the string at the side of the boot. “It is the root of a plant, of course.”