The Cat and the Cock

'The Cat and the Cock', an illustration by JVL for Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989.

This illustration depicts our own pet cat at the time -  'Ginny', near the hen coop in our garden.

It is a fable about a cat  looking for excuses to kill the cock. The cat blamed the cat for making such a crowing noise at night when people were in bed. The cock's excuse was that he helped them get up in the morning so that they could go to work. The cat then accused the cock for having incestuous relationships with his mother, sisters and offspring.  The cock replied that this meant that the hens laid more eggs thus benefitting their owner. The cat, fed up with these excuses, and who was intent on eating the cock in the first place gobbled him up.