Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Cat and the Cock
THE CAT AND THE COCK.
A Cat caught a Cock, and took counsel with himself how he might find a reasonable excuse for eating him. He accused him as being a nuisance to men, by crowing in the night time, and not permitting them to sleep. The Cock defended himself by saying, that he did this for the benefit of men, that they might rise betimes for their labours. The Cat replied, "Although you abound in specious apologies, I shall not remain supperless;" and he made a meal of him.