[Illustration:  357.jpg THE CAT AND THE JACKAL GO OFF TO THE FIELDS WITH THEIR FLOCKS] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.

As La Fontaine found an illustrator in Granville, so, too, in Egypt the draughtsman brought his reed to the aid of the fabulist, and by his cleverly executed sketches gave greater point to the sarcasm of story than mere words could have conveyed.  Where the author had briefly mentioned that the jackal and the cat had cunningly forced their services on the animals whom they wished to devour at their leisure, the artist would depict the jackal and the cat equipped as peasants, with wallets on their backs, and sticks over their shoulders, marching behind a troup of gazelles or a flock of fat geese:  it was easy to foretell the fate of their unfortunate charges.  Elsewhere it is an ox who brings up before his master a cat who has cheated him, and his proverbial stupidity would incline us to think that he will end by being punished himself for the misdeeds of which he had accused the other.  Puss’s sly and artful expression, the ass-headed and important-looking judge, with the wand and costume of a high and mighty dignitary, give pungency to the story, and recall the daily scenes at the judgment-seat of the lord of Thebes.  In another place we see a donkey, a lion, a crocodile, and a monkey giving an instrumental and vocal concert.

[Illustration:  358.jpg THE CAT BEFORE ITS JUDGE]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.

A lion and a gazelle play a game of chess.  A cat of fashion, with a flower in her hair, has a disagreement with a goose:  they have come to blows, and the excitable puss, who fears she will come off worst in the struggle, falls backwards in a fright.  The draughtsmen having once found vent for their satire, stopped at nothing, and even royalty itself did not escape their attacks.  While the writers of the day made fun of the military calling, both in prose and verse, the caricaturists parodied the combats and triumphal scenes of the Ramses or Thutmosis of the day depicted on the walls of the pylons.  The Pharaoh of all the rats, perched upon a chariot drawn by dogs, bravely charges an army of cats; standing in the heroic attitude of a conqueror, he pierces them with his darts, while his horses tread the fallen underfoot; his legions meanwhile in advance of him attack a fort defended by tomcats, with the same ardour that the Egyptian battalions would display in assaulting a Syrian stronghold.

[Illustration:  359.jpg A CONCERT OF ANIMALS DEVOTED TO MUSIC]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.