matter of taste. I don't say your
judgment is bad, friend Hank, or that you are so vulgar as to be
conceited. But if you admire big, waggy ears and a tail like a
paintbrush and hoofs big enough for an elephant and a long neck and a
body so skinny that one can count the ribs with one eye shut--if that's
your idea of beauty, Hank, then either you or I must be much mistaken."

"You're full of edges," sneered the Mule. "If I were square as you are,
I suppose you'd think me lovely."

"Outwardly, dear Hank, I would," replied the Woozy. "But to be really
lovely, one must be beautiful without and within."

The Mule couldn't deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted grunt and
rolled over so that his back was toward the Woozy. But the Lion,
regarding the two calmly with his great, yellow eyes, said to the dog,
"My dear Toto, our friends have taught us a lesson in humility. If the
Woozy and the Mule are indeed beautiful creatures as they seem to
think, you and I must be decidedly ugly."

"Not to ourselves," protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. "You
and I, Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a fine dog, and
you are a fine lion. Only in point of comparison, one with another,
can we be properly judged, so I will leave it to the poor old Sawhorse
to decide which is the most beautiful animal among us all. The Sawhorse
is wood, so he won't be prejudiced and will speak the truth."

"I surely will," responded the Sawhorse, wagging his ears, which were
chips set in his wooden head. "Are you all agreed to accept my
judgment?"

"We are!" they declared, each one hopeful.

"Then," said the Sawhorse, "I must point out to you the fact that you
are all meat creatures, who tire unless they sleep and starve unless
they eat and suffer from thirst unless they drink. Such animals must
be very imperfect, and imperfect creatures cannot be beautiful. Now, I
am made of wood."

"You surely have a wooden head," said the Mule.

"Yes, and a wooden body and wooden legs, which are as swift as the wind
and as tireless. I've heard Dorothy say that 'handsome is as handsome
does,' and I surely perform my duties in a handsome manner. Therefore,
if you wish my honest judgment, I will confess that among us all I am
the most beautiful."

The Mule snorted, and the Woozy laughed; Toto had lost his growl and
could only look scornfully at the Sawhorse, who stood in his place
unmoved. But the Lion stretched himself and yawned, s