2 



THE RAT 



candid from the very beginning, I am inclined to 

 dislike and distrust the whole breed of you, boys 

 especially, and, as far as I can judge from your 

 behaviour, you are not over-fond of us, either. 



' Which would I rather have — half a tail or only 

 three paws V Is it a riddle ? If so, take it away 

 A boy had the cheek to try to catch me in one once, 

 but I bit the string in half before I went underneath, 

 and then I got a fine herring's head, and bolted 

 before he could make out why nothing happened 

 when he pulled the string. 



Oh, you only wanted to know, did you ? Well, 

 so long as you talk civilly, I am quite ready to 

 answer questions. A paw counts most because it 

 shows. Anyone can see that you are 'a hopper,' 

 but you may be 'a tailer' for quite a long time 

 before your friends know anything about it. My 

 cousin says that the same remark might be made 

 about marquises and tailors. Anyway, I am both, 

 so it does not matter to me. 



My name ? Ah, yes ! you remind me of my 

 manners. But introductions are rather going out 

 of fashion among us. Still, I ought unquestionably 

 to have begun with a proper introduction, only I 

 wanted to put something nice at the top of my first 

 chapter, and I could not think of any good quota- 



