all other manners, also, beseech for me the forgiveness
the blessèd Moon. I shall never return here." And with these words he went to his own place.
"And that is why I say:
The feigning of a great commission, . . . .
and the rest of it.
"But worse remains behind. The owl is a seedy rascal, with a wicked soul. He could never protect subjects. Or rather, to say nothing of protection, you may anticipate actual danger from him. You know the stanza:
A seedy umpire is not very
Pleasing to either adversary:
Rabbit and partridge teach you that—
They died, confiding in the cat."
"How was that? Tell us about it," said the birds, and the crow told the story of
THE CAT'S JUDGMENT
At one time I was myself living in a certain tree. And beneath the same tree dwelt another bird, a partridge. So by virtue of our near neighborhood there sprang up between us a firm friendship. Every day after taking our meals and airings we spent the evening hours in a round of amusements, such as repeating witty sayings, telling tales from the old story-books, solving puzzles and conundrums, or exchanging presents.
