172 THE FOX 



prey, when clogged with mud and wet is a most 

 undoubted encumbrance. 



If we turn to particular authors, I am struck with 

 the accuracy of the observation o. ^Esop and 

 Phasdrus. In the latter, the fox is among the drama- 

 tis personce, of the fabulists the most true to nature. 

 There is the remark of the ape when he begs a portion 

 of the fox's brush — ' What,' he asks, ' is the use of 

 dragging such a mass of hair through the mire ? ' The 

 fox replies that he would drag a brush much longer and 

 heavier rather than lend the ape a bit of it. With the 

 moral I am glad to say we have nothing to do, but 

 two things are here set out : that the brush is often a 

 drag on the hunted fox, yet that on the whole it is an 

 advantage to the race — an assistance in hunting (and 

 by the way, the fox tucks his nose into it when asleep), 

 a comfort in his domestic moments. There is a keen 

 touch of observation, too, in the case of the fox 

 who would be king. Granted by Jupiter a human 

 form and seated on his throne, the fox espies a beetle 

 in the corner, and springs down to capture it. 

 Jupiter promptly sends him back to the woods — 

 ' Live as you have been accustomed to do, since you 

 are fit for no higher position.' 



There was a peculiar aptness about this, for the 

 fox is one of the most untameable of animals. His 



