The story of "The Trial of an Ox for Killing a Man" takes place in the Beast Park, at Quadruped Court. The scene is set up as follows. An ox has killed his drover and was taken to the animal court for his crimes by dogs. The king of the beasts, the lion, is the judge and asks for evidence for and against the crime. While the dogs offer their help, the lion deems them to be untrustworthy and asks others.
The first to stand are the horse and the ass, who both describe the brutal killing of the drover. The ox has rapidly turned and gored his drover in the middle of the market. The lion next asks the ox himself to offer his side of the story. The ox explains that he has no recollection of the incident, but if it happened it was because the cruel actions of the drover drove him insane from pain. He pleads that while he might have killed a man, would the human not have done the same to him? The ox continues, explaining the cruel practice of murder and slaughter for the sustenance of humanity. He complains about the cruel practices of beating and imprisonment.
After the ox, the bee, waiting patiently on the head of the ox, came forward to support him. In a lengthy description he describes the endless pain the animal had to withstand on his journey from the farm to the market, just to be slaughtered there. He goes into detail about the methods the inhumane drover used to drive the oxen on. His claim that while the murder happened, no blame can be put on the ox. The judge then quickly interrogated, with the help of the bear, some other witnesses, to corroborate the evidence given.
Finally, the Tiger, a lawyer of sort, gives his opinion. He states that the story of the bee and the others is just evidence of the innocence of the ox. He continues and reminds other animals of their lot in life. The horse who has to carry heavy burdens, the deer who are hunted. He calls humans bipedal tigers who care little about any other creature. The judge decides that manslaughter is the right verdict and punishes the ox by imprisonment for one hour and the payment of one blade of grass. This seemed fair to the animals and the story ends with the cock applauding the decision.
