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This is the immortal justification of the Fable: that we could

not teach the plainest truths so simply without turning men into

chessmen. We cannot talk of such simple things without using

animals that do not talk at all. Suppose, for a moment, that you

turn the wolf into a wolfish baron, or the fox into a foxy

diplomatist. You will at once remember that even barons are

human, you will be unable to forget that even diplomatists are

men. You will always be looking for that accidental good-humour

that should go with the brutality of any brutal man; for that

allowance for all delicate things, including virtue, that should

exist in any good diplomatist. Once put a thing on two legs

instead of four and pluck it of feathers and you cannot help

asking for a human being, either heroic, as in the fairy tales,

or un-heroic, as in the modern novels.