Neither were men in those days
ever deceived; but now they are tangled in women's wiles as easily as
a partridge is caught in a net. There were no cowards, for men at all
times are staunch and bold, whereas a woman has nothing but the heart
of a little bird in her breast. All nature shared in man's prosperity.
The corn grew to the height of a young forest tree, and in the
hunting-grounds the deer and bears were as thick as stars.
"But the chief glory of man in those days was his long, superb and
glossy tail; for at that time it could not be said that the horses
were more highly gifted than he. You must often have noticed the pride
with which horses switch their tails about, apparently to drive off
flies, but really to show their superiority to the race they serve.
The reproach of having no tail is one that is hard to bear; but at the
time of which I speak all men were endowed with luxuriant tails, some
of them black as the shell of a butternut when it is fully ripe,
others the colour of the setting sun, but all trimmed with shells, gay
coloured beads and flowers, and strings of alligators' teeth.
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