A Rat, travelling on the highway,
met a
huge Elephant, bearing his royal
master
and his suite, and also his favorite dog,
cat,
parrot, and monkey.
An admiring crowd followed the great beast
and his attendants, so that the entire road was
filled.
"How foolish you are,"
said the Rat to the
people, "to make such matter of seeing an ele-
phant. Is it his great bulk that you so much
admire? Mere size is nothing.
At most it
can only frighten little girls and
boys, and I
can do that as well. I am a
beast as well as
he. I have as many legs, and ears,
and eyes.
If you will take the trouble
to compare us,
you will see I have finger parts.
What right,
then, has he to take up all the highway, which
belongs to me as well as to him?"
At this moment, the
Cat from her high
place spied the Rat. She
jumped to the
ground, and soon convinced him
that he was
not an elephant.
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