There were two boys, a big boy and a little boy, and the big boy's coat was small and the small boy's coat was huge.

So the big boy stripped the little boy and gave him his own small coat, while he put on the big one himself.

Now in giving judgment I decided that it was better for both parties that each should have the coat that fitted him best.

But I never got any further in my sentence, because the master thrashed me here, and said that the verdict would have been excellent if I had been appointed to say what fitted and what did not, but I had been called in to decide to whom the coat belonged, and the point to consider was, who had a right to it: Was he who took a thing by violence to keep it, or he who had had it made and bought it for his own?
And the master taught me that what is lawful is just and what is in the teeth of law is based on violence, and therefore, he said, the judge must always see that his verdict tallies with the law.

So you see, mother, I have the whole of justice at my fingers' ends already.