The Horse, the Dog, and the Man
THE horse and the dog had tamed a man, and fastened him to a fence; Said the horse to the dog, “For the life of me, I don’t see a bit of sense in letting him have the thumbs that grow at the sides of his hands, do you?” And the dog looked solemn, and shook his head, and said, “I’m a goat if I do.” The poor man groaned, and tried to get loose, and sadly he begged them, “Stay!” You will rob me of things for which I have use by cutting my thumbs away! You will spoil my looks, you will cause me pain! Ah, why should you treat me so? As I am God made me, and he knows best! O masters, pray let me go! The dog laughed out, and the horse replied: “Oh, the cutting won’t hurt you! You see, we’ll have a hot iron to clap right on, as you did in your docking of me! God gave you your thumbs and all, but still the Creator, you know, may fail to do the artistic thing, as he did in furnishing me with a tail!” So they bound the man, and cut off his thumbs, and were deaf to his pitiful cries. And they seared the stumps, and they viewed their work through happy and dazzled eyes: “How trim he appears,” the horse exclaimed, “since his awkward thumbs are gone! For the life of me I can not see why the Lord ever put them on!” “Still, it seems to me,” the dog replied, “that there’s something else to do: His ears look rather too long for me, and how do they look to you?” The man cried out: “Oh spare my ears! God fashioned them as you see, And if you apply your knife to them, you’ll surely disfigure me!” “But you didn’t disfigure me, you know,” the dog decisively said, “When you bound me fast, and trimmed my ears down close to the top of my head!” So they let him moan, and they let him groan, while they cropped his ears away, And they praised his looks when they let him up, and proud indeed were they! But that was years and years ago, in an unenlightened age! Such things are ended now, you know; we have reached a higher stage! The ears and thumbs God gave to man are his to keep and wear, And the cruel horse and dog look on, and never appear to care!