AN Irish sergeant, on a march, being attacked by a dog, pierced the
animal with his halbert. On the complaint of the owner, the superior
officer said to the offender, "Murphy, you were wrong in this. You
should have struck the dog with the butt end of your halbert, and not
with your blade." "Plaise your honor," says Murphy, "and I would have
been glad for to save myself the trouble of claining my iron, if he had
only been so kind as to bite me with his tail, instead of his teeth."