"
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 cannot 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've
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.
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