“Ah!” exclaimed the magpie, “I know what that is--I feel for you, Puss; you may well be moped, living in that stupid cottage all day. You are not like myself, now; _I_ have had such advantages! I declare to you I can amuse myself the whole day with the recollection of the wonderful things I have seen when I lived in the great world.” “There it is,” interrupted the cat. “To think of the difference in people’s situations! Just compare my condition in this wretched hole of a hut, with the life you say the Countess’s cat lives. I’m sure I can hardly eat my sop in the morning for thinking of her buttered crumpets. It’s a fine thing to be born in a Palace!” “Indeed,” replied the magpie, “there is a great deal of truth in what you say; and sometimes I half repent of having retired from her service myself; but there’s a great charm in liberty--it is pleasant to feel able to fly about wherever one likes, and have no impertinent questions asked.” “Does the Countess’s cat ever do any work?” inquired puss. “Not a bit,” answered the magpie. “I don’t suppose she ever caught a mouse in her life. Why should she? She has plenty to eat and drink, and nothing to do but to sleep or play all day long.” “What a life!” cried the cat. “And here am I, obliged to take the trouble to catch birds or anything I can, if I want to make out my dinner. What a world it is!” “Your most obedient servant, ladies,” just at that moment hooted an old owl from a neighboring fir-tree. “A fine evening to you!” “Dear me, Mr. Owl! How you made me jump!” cried the magpie, quite crossly, “I nearly tumbled down from the bough!” To tell the truth, the magpie did not particularly care for the owl’s company. He was apt to say very rude things sometimes; besides, he was thought a very sensible bird, and Mag always declared she hated sensible birds--they were so dreadfully dull, and thought themselves so much wiser than other people. But the cat was not sorry to have a chance to tell her woes to any one who was so generally respected for his wisdom, and she said at once:-- “We were talking, my dear sir, on the wide differences there are in the world.” “You may well say that,” answered the owl, giving a blink with his left eye. “I suppose,” he added, turning to the magpie, “that your ladyship finds a good deal of difference between your present abode and the Countess’s grand palace garden. I only wonder how you could bring yourself to make such a change--at your time of life, too.” “What a very rude speech,” thought the magpie; she fidgeted upon the branch, drew herself up, and muttered something about people minding their own business. “But you, my dear cat,” went on the owl, “you have every reason to be satisfied with your lot in life.”