A Fox was once caught in a trap by his tail, and in order to get away
was forced to leave it behind him. Knowing that without a tail he
would be a laughing-stock for all his fellows, he resolved to try to
induce them to part with theirs. At the next assembly of Foxes,
therefore, he made a speech on the unprofitableness of tails in
general, and the inconvenience of a Fox's tail in particular, adding
that he had never felt so easy as since he had given up his own.
When he had sat down, a sly old fellow rose, and waving his long brush
with a graceful air, said, with a sneer, that if, like the last
speaker, he had been so unfortunate as to lose his tail, nothing
further would have been needed to convince him; but till such an
accident should happen, he should certainly vote in favour of tails.