A weasel caught a cock and looked for some plausible excuse to eat him. She charged him with annoying people by crowing at night and robbing them of sleep. The cock answered that he did it for their good, waking them in time for their work. So she accused him of an unnatural crime, mating with his own mother and sisters. He replied that this too served his owners, since it made the hens lay plenty of eggs. "Well," cried the weasel, "you may have no end of fine excuses, but I am not going hungry for them," and she devoured him.
A wicked nature bent on harm, when it cannot hide behind a fine mask, does its harm in the open.
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