Berg. Well, I went back to my master without the meat and with the old clog.  It struck him that I had come back very soon, and seeing the clog, he guessed the trick, snatched up a knife, and flung it at me; and if I had not leaped aside, you would not now be listening to my story.  I took to my heels, and was off like a shot behind St. Bernard’s, away over the fields, without stopping to think whither my luck would lead me.  That night I slept under the open sky, and the following day I chanced to fall in with a flock of sheep.  The moment I saw it, I felt that I had found the very thing that suited me, since it appeared to me to be the natural and proper duty of dogs to guard the fold, that being an office which involves the great virtue of protecting and defending the lowly and the weak against the proud and mighty.  One of the three shepherds who were with the flock immediately called me to him, and I, who desired nothing better, went up at once to him, lowering my head and wagging my tail.  He passed his hand along my back, opened my mouth, examined my fangs, ascertained my age, and told his master that I had all the works and tokens of a dog of good breed.  Just then up came the owner of the flock on a gray mare with lance and surge, so that he looked more a coast-guard than a sheep master.

“What dog is that!” said he to the shepherd; “he seems a good one.”  “You may well say that,” replied the man; “for I have examined him closely, and there is not a mark about him but shows that he must be of the right sort.  He came here just now; I don’t know whose he is, but I know that he does not belong to any of the flocks hereabouts.”

“If that be so,” said the master, “put on him the collar that belonged to the dog that is dead, and give him the same rations as the rest, treat him kindly that he may take a liking to the fold, and remain with it henceforth.”  So saying he went away, and the shepherd put on my neck a collar set with steel points, after first giving me a great mess of bread sopped in milk in a trough.  At the same time I had a name bestowed on me, which was Barcino.  I liked my second master, and my new duty very well; I was careful and diligent in watching the flock, and never quitted it except in the afternoons, when I went to repose under the shade of some tree, or rock, or bank, or by the margin of one of the many streams that watered the country.  Nor did I spend those leisure hours idly, but employed them in calling many things to mind, especially the life I had led in the slaughter-house, and also that of my master and all his fellows, who were bound to satisfy the inordinate humours of their mistresses.  O how many things I could tell you of that I learned in the school of that she-butcher, my master’s lady; but I must pass them over, lest you should think me tedious and censorious.

Scip. I have heard that it was a saying of a great poet among the ancients, that it was a difficult thing to write satires.  I consent that you put some point into your remarks, but not to the drawing of blood.  You may hit lightly, but not wound or kill; for sarcasm, though it make many laugh, is not good if it mortally wounds one; and if you can please without it, I shall think you more discreet.