The End Of It

A whole-tail dog, and a half-tail dog,
And a dog without a tail,
Went all three out on an autumn day
To follow a red-fox trail.


But the dogs that carried their tails along
Fell out, it is said, by the way;
And the loss of a tail and a half at the end
Of the dogs put an end to the fray.


When each, as a morsel sweet, gulped down
What had late been a neighbor's pride,
"You've kept your tails," laughed the no-tail dog,
"But you wear them now inside."