Cats came to hear the judgment. They sharpened up their tongues for talking and their claws for fighting, until the Justice was forced to threaten them with his whip.
“Then beneath the court room window, I began to play my flute. Oh, it was a song like honey; at once from the Judge’s desk to the entrance door all was still! All these hearts boiling with wrath opened wide. Anger fled from them. And when I ended my song, Liza gave Lap her paw as a sign of peace.
“The Justice filled his pipe with pleasure, clapped shut his book of laws, placed the briefs behind a rafter. He put the whip back upon a nail. Then he spoke forth his solemn judgment:
“‘This is the decree: That we lock away anger and malice behind prison walls. Come, clarionets, pipe out your merry music! Boom out, ye big bass-viols!‘
