A Lamb strayed for the first time into the woods, and excited much
discussion among other animals. In a mixed company, one day, when he
became the subject of a friendly gossip, the goat praised him.
“Pooh!” said the lion, “this is too absurd. The beast is a pretty beast
enough, but did you hear him roar? I heard him roar, and, by the manes
of my fathers, when he roars he does nothing but cry ba-a-a!” And the
lion bleated his best in mockery, but bleated far from well.
“Nay,” said the deer, “I do not think so badly of his voice. I liked him
well enough until I saw him leap. He kicks with his hind legs in
running, and, with all his skipping, gets over very little ground.”
“It is a bad beast altogether,” said the tiger. “He cannot roar, he
cannot run, he can do nothing—and what wonder? I killed a man yesterday,
and, in politeness to the new comer, offered him a bit; upon which he
had the impudence to look disgusted, and say, ‘No, sir, I eat nothing
but grass.’”
So the beasts criticised the Lamb, each in his own way; and yet it was a
good Lamb, nevertheless.