Category: Humour
Weary of insult, ignominy, and the constant oppression of man, we, the so-called Lower Animals, have at last resolved to cast off the yoke of our oppressors, who, since the day of their creation, have rendered liberty and equality nothing more than empty names.
_Gnawer._ I inherit my father’s love of books and curious documents. He was a learned rat, having devoured some of the oldest and dryest works in his master’s library. It will n...
7. CHAPTER V.“I soon reached a wood, and felt my chest expand with the pure air. It was so long since I beheld the full extent of the sky, that I seemed to look upon it for the first time. T...
2. PART II.Weary of insult, ignominy, and the constant oppression of man, we, the so-called Lower Animals, have at last resolved to cast off the yoke of our oppressors, who, since the day...
4. CHAPTER II.“I offered no resistance. It was my fate, and I accepted it calmly. Among men, every one is more or less the servant of another, the only difference being in the kind of service...
3. CHAPTER I.One day last week, as I stood on the branch of an old tree, meditating on the closing lines of a poem I was about to dedicate to my race, my attention was arrested by a Leveret...
9. SCENE II._Gnawer._ What! by the window? can’t you find the door? But I forgot, you rats of the modern school never do as others do. Come, let us dine, the things have been waiting long e...
6. CHAPTER IV.“I could hardly believe my eyes—this man, of whom I was in the greatest dread, was himself as frightened as if the devil had got between his legs. Good, I said, my lucky star ha...
5. CHAPTER III.“I soon discovered my destiny. It was not the Tuileries! My master had made a little house of four boards, which he set up in the Champs Elysées, and there, beneath the blue sky...
12. SCENE V.So, so! In spite of my express wishes he meets my daughter. Comes like a thief to the window under cover of night. I shall show them what I am. [_Calls Toinon; Toinon enters._]...
11. SCENE IV._Gnawer._ No, not exactly. He is what men call a Church Rat. He dispenses holy water at the door of Notre Dame, and sells candles to the faithful, which they piously light in ho...
10. SCENE III.Toinon has softly opened the door and crossed the room on tiptoe; she approaches the window and whispers, “Is that you, Paul? How very imprudent! Oh! if my father were to come in.”
8. SCENE I.My pupil Trotter is coming to share my dinner. I hope he may find no cause to regret his old master’s invitation [_smelling an old piece of cheese he found under the table_]. Th...
1. PART I.