Gringalet was feeble, he was afraid; and as he was cowardly, he became the
laughing-stock and scapegoat of his companions, who beat him, and caused
him so much misery, that he would have been very wicked if strength and
courage had not failed him. But no; when they beat him, he cried, saying,
'I have done no harm to any one, yet every one harms me--it is unjust. Oh!
if I were strong and bold!' You think, perhaps, that Gringalet was going to
add, 'I would return to others the evil they did me.' Well, no! not at all:
he said, 'Oh! if I were strong and bold, I would defend the weak against
the strong; for I am weak, and the strong make me suffer.' In the mean
time, as he was too much of a pigmy to prevent the strong from molesting
the weak, he prevented the larger beasts from injuring the smaller ones.

"There's a funny idea!" said the prisoner in the blue cap.

"And what is still more funny," replied the patterer, "is that, with this
idea, one would have said that Gringalet consoled himself for being beaten;
and that proves that, at bottom, he had not a bad heart."

"I think so--on the contrary," said the keeper, "Pique-Vinaigre is jolly
amusing."

At this moment the clock struck half-past three. The Skeleton and Big
Cripple exchanged significant glances. The hour advanced, the keeper did
not retire, and some of the least hardened prisoners seemed almost to
forget the sinister projects against Germain, who listened with eagerness
to the recital. "When I say," Pique-Vinaigre resumed, "that Gringalet
prevented the larger beasts from eating the smaller ones, you will please
understand that Gringalet did not go and interfere in the affairs of the
tigers, lions, wolves, or even the foxes and apes of the menagerie; he was
too cowardly for that. But as soon as he saw, for example, a spider