Why did he keep on trying to catch them, then? Because he thought that sooner or later they would begin to quarrel, and then the game would be his.
And quarrel they soon did. One Quail happened to tread on another’s toe.
“What are you doing, clumsy?” said the second Quail angrily.
“I’m very sorry,” said the first; “I really did not mean to tread on your toe.”
“You did!”
“I tell you I didn’t!”
“What a lie!”
“A lie, is it? Hoity, toity, how high-and-mighty we are, to be sure! I suppose it is you lift up the net, all by yourself, when the man throws it over us!”
And so they went on, getting angrier and angrier. And the result was, that next day, when the fowler made his cast, said the first Quail to the second:
“Now then, Samson, lift away! They say that last time your feathers all fell off your head!”