"
"Oh!" said the Hare, "have you? Well, if I were you, I shouldn't boast
about it just now. You see, we are still outside of those Gates. Who
knows but that you will find every one of the living things you have
amused yourself by slaughtering waiting for you within them, each
praying for justice to its Maker and your own?"
"My word!" said the Man, "what a horrible notion; it's like a bad
dream."
He reflected a little, then added, "Well, if they do, I've got my
answer. I killed them for food; man must live. Millions of pheasants are
sold to be eaten every year at a much smaller price than they cost to
breed. What do you say to that, Mr. Hatter? Finishes him, I think."
"I'm not arguing," I replied. "Ask the Hare."
"Yes, ask me, Man, and although you are repeating yourself, I'll answer
with another question, knowing that here you must tell the truth. Did
you really rear us all for food? Was it for this that you kept your
keepers, your running dogs and your hunting dogs, that you might kill
poor defenceless beasts and birds to fill men's stomachs? If this was
so, I have nothing more to say. Indeed, if our deaths or sufferings at
their hands really help men in any way, I have nothing more to say. I
admit that you are higher and stronger than we are, and have a right to
use us for your own advantage, or even to destroy us altogether if we
harm you."
The Man pondered, then replied sullenly--
"You know very well that it was not so.
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