138 



THE RAT 



You have no fear of any stronger creature taking 

 you unawares in an unguarded moment, and the 

 position is one which I should greatly like to fill 

 for a few days. Only I doubt whether I should 

 be able to exercise quite so much self-restraint as 

 you have learnt to observe in the matter of killing. 

 I will readily say that much to your credit. I am 

 afraid that T should sally forth and wage a war of 

 extermination upon all foxes, weasels, owls, hawks, 

 cats, and boys. I would drive you all into the 

 outer wilderness, if there is such a place, and com- 

 pel you to seek your food in a barren and dry land, 

 where no water is. I would lay upon you the burden, 

 which we bear so easily day after day, of never setting 

 forth in gaiety and carelessness ; of always keeping 

 one eye and one ear open and on the watch for 

 an enemy, so that the shadow of a wing or the 

 rustle of a grass should make you tremble and leave 

 the meal untouched ; of never setting foot to ground 

 until your nose had assured you that there was no 

 hidden trap. And until it became to you a second 

 nature, as it has become to us, I do not think that 

 you would greatly enjoy the new manner of your 

 life. All this I would gladly make you feel for a 

 while ; but, on the other hand, I cannot but realize 

 that the burden of time presses more heavily upon 



