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<pre>
Project Gutenberg's A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine, by Jean de La Fontaine
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Illustrator: Percy J. Billinghurst
Release Date: May 6, 2008 [EBook #25357]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HUNDRED FABLES OF LA FONTAINE ***
Produced by David Edwards, Josephine Paolucci and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive.)
</pre>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 324px;">
<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="324" height="500" alt="" title="" />
</div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 363px;">
<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="363" height="500" alt="" title="" />
</div>
<h2>A HUNDRED FABLES</h2>
<h4>OF</h4>
<h1>LA FONTAINE</h1>
<h3>WITH PICTURES BY PERCY J. BILLINGHURST</h3>
<p class="center">LONDON
JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK JOHN LANE COMPANY</p>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 378px;">
<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="378" height="500" alt="" title="" />
</div>
<h4><i>SECOND EDITION</i></h4>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i10">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /></span>
<span class="i10">At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh<br /></span>
</div></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<div class='center'>
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr><td align='left'>A</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><i>Page</i></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Acorn and the Pumpkin</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Animals Sick of the Plague</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_200'>200</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ape</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_90'>90</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass and his Masters</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass and the Dog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_120'>120</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass and the Little Dog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass Carrying Relics</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_26'>26</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass Dressed in the Lion's Skin</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ass Loaded with Sponges</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>B</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Bat and the Two Weasels</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Battle of the Rats and the Weasels</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Bear and the Two Companions</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_194'>194</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Bird Wounded by an Arrow</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>C</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Camel and the Floating Sticks</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Carter in the Mire</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Cat and the Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Cat and the Two Sparrows</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Cock and the Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_76'>76</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Council held by the Rats</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_62'>62</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Countryman and the Serpent</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Cunning Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_88'>88</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>D</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>Death and the Woodman</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Dog and his Master's Dinner</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_110'>110</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Dog whose Ears were Cropped</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Dove and the Ant</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Dragon with many Heads</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>E</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Eagle and the Magpie</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_94'>94</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Eagle and the Owl</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_184'>184</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ears of the Hare</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_22'>22</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>Education</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>F</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Fool who Sold Wisdom</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_130'>130</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Fox, the Flies, and the Hedgehog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_98'>98</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Fox and the Turkeys</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>G</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Grasshopper and the Ant</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_2'>2</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>H</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Hare and the Partridge</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Head and the Tail of the Serpent</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_48'>48</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Heron</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Hog, the Goat, and the Sheep</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Hornets and the Bees</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Horse and the Wolf</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_182'>182</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>J</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Joker and the Fishes</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>L</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion and the Ass Hunting</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_8'>8</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion and the Hunter</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion and the Gnat</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion and the Monkey</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_178'>178</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion beaten by the Man</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lioness and the Bear</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_146'>146</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion Going to War</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_196'>196</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Lobster and her Daughter</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_162'>162</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>M</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Man and his Image</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Man and the Wooden God</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Man and the Owl</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_148'>148</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Miser and the Monkey</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Monkey and the Cat</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Monkey and the Leopard</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>N</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>Nothing too Much</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>O</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Oak and the Reed</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_60'>60</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Old Cat and the Young Mouse</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Old Man and the Ass</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Old Woman and her Servants</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Oyster and the Litigants</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_132'>132</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>P</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>Philomet and Progne</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Ploughman and his Sons</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>Q</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Quarrel of the Dogs and Cats</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>R</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Rat and the Elephant</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Rat and the Oyster</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Rat Retired from the World</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_86'>86</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>S</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Shepherd and his Dog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Shepherd and his Flock</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Shepherd and the Lion</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Shepherd and the Sea</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Sick Stag</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Spider and the Swallow</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Stag and the Vine</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_190'>190</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Sun and the Frogs</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Swan and the Cook</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>T</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Thieves and the Ass</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_4'>4</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Tortoise and the Two Ducks</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Asses</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Bulls and the Frog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_124'>124</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Goats</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Mules</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>V</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Vultures and the Pigeons</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_188'>188</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'>W</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wallet</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wax-Candle</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Weasel in the Granary</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_14'>14</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wolf Accusing the Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_6'>6</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wolf and the Fox</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wolf and the Lean Dog</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Wolf turned Shepherd</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Woodman and Mercury</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_176'>176</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><i>The Woods and the Woodman</i></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr>
</table></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
<h2>A HUNDRED FABLES OF</h2>
<h2>LA FONTAINE</h2>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Grasshopper and the Ant.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A grasshopper gay<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sang the summer away,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And found herself poor<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By the winter's first roar.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of meat or of bread,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not a morsel she had!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So a-begging she went,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To her neighbour the ant,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For the loan of some wheat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which would serve her to eat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till the season came round.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I will pay you," she saith,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"On an animal's faith,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Double weight in the pound<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Ere the harvest be bound."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The ant is a friend<br /></span>
<span class="i2">(And here she might mend)<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Little given to lend.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"How spent you the summer?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Quoth she, looking shame<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At the borrowing dame.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Night and day to each comer<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I sang, if you please."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"You sang! I'm at ease;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For 'tis plain at a glance,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Now, ma'am, you must dance."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE GRASSHOPPER and THE ANT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Thieves and the Ass.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Two thieves, pursuing their profession,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had of a donkey got possession,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Whereon a strife arose,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which went from words to blows.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The question was, to sell, or not to sell;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But while our sturdy champions fought it well,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Another thief, who chanced to pass,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With ready wit rode off the ass.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>This ass is, by interpretation,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Some province poor, or prostrate nation.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The thieves are princes this and that,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>On spoils and plunder prone to fat,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>As those of Austria, Turkey, Hungary.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>(Instead of two, I've quoted three—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Enough of such commodity.)</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>These powers engaged in war all,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Some fourth thief stops the quarrel,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>According all to one key,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>By riding off the donkey</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE THIEVES and THE ASS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wolf Accusing the Fox.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">A wolf, affirming his belief<br /></span>
<span class="i8">That he had suffer'd by a thief,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Brought up his neighbour fox—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of whom it was by all confess'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His character was not the best—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To fill the prisoner's box.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As judge between these vermin,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A monkey graced the ermine;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And truly other gifts of Themis<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Did scarcely seem his;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For while each party plead his cause,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Appealing boldly to the laws,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And much the question vex'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our monkey sat perplex'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Their words and wrath expended,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their strife at length was ended;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When, by their malice taught,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The judge this judgment brought:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Your characters, my friends, I long have known,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As on this trial clearly shown;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And hence I fine you both—the grounds at large<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To state would little profit—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">You wolf, in short, as bringing groundless charge,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">You fox, as guilty of it."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Come at it right or wrong, the judge opined</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>No other than a villain could be fined</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i006.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE WOLF accusing THE FOX before THE MONKEY." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion and the Ass Hunting.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The king of animals, with royal grace,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Would celebrate his birthday in the chase.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">'Twas not with bow and arrows,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To slay some wretched sparrows;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The lion hunts the wild boar of the wood,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The antlered deer and stags, the fat and good.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This time, the king, t' insure success,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Took for his aide-de-camp an ass,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A creature of stentorian voice,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That felt much honour'd by the choice.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The lion hid him in a proper station,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And order'd him to bray, for his vocation,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Assured that his tempestuous cry<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The boldest beasts would terrify,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And cause them from their lairs to fly.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And, sooth, the horrid noise the creature made<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Did strike the tenants of the wood with dread;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, as they headlong fled,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All fell within the lion's ambuscade.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Has not my service glorious<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Made both of us victorious?"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Cried out the much-elated ass.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Yes," said the lion; "bravely bray'd!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Had I not known yourself and race,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I should have been myself afraid!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The donkey, had he dared,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With anger would have flared<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At this retort, though justly made;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For who could suffer boasts to pass<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So ill-befitting to an ass?<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 357px;">
<img src="images/i007.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="THE LION and THE ASS hunting." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wolf turned Shepherd.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A wolf, whose gettings from the flocks<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Began to be but few,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Bethought himself to play the fox<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In character quite new.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A shepherd's hat and coat he took,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A cudgel for a crook,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Nor e'en the pipe forgot:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And more to seem what he was not,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Himself upon his hat he wrote,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"I'm Willie, shepherd of these sheep."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His person thus complete,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His crook in upraised feet,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The impostor Willie stole upon the keep.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The real Willie, on the grass asleep,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Slept there, indeed, profoundly,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His dog and pipe slept, also soundly;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His drowsy sheep around lay.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As for the greatest number,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Much bless'd the hypocrite their slumber,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And hoped to drive away the flock,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Could he the shepherd's voice but mock.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He thought undoubtedly he could.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He tried: the tone in which he spoke,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Loud echoing from the wood,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The plot and slumber broke;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sheep, dog, and man awoke.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The wolf, in sorry plight,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In hampering coat bedight,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could neither run nor fight.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>There's always leakage of deceit</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Which makes it never safe to cheat.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Whoever is a wolf had better</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Keep clear of hypocritic fetter.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 357px;">
<img src="images/i008.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="THE WOLF turned SHEPHERD." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Swan and the Cook.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The pleasures of a poultry yard<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Were by a swan and gosling shared.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The swan was kept there for his looks,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The thrifty gosling for the cooks;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The first the garden's pride, the latter<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A greater favourite on the platter.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They swam the ditches, side by side,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And oft in sports aquatic vied,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Plunging, splashing far and wide,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With rivalry ne'er satisfied.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One day the cook, named Thirsty John,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sent for the gosling, took the swan<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In haste his throat to cut,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And put him in the pot.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bird's complaint resounded<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In glorious melody;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whereat the cook, astounded<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His sad mistake to see,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Cried, "What! make soup of a musician!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Please God, I'll never set such dish on.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No, no; I'll never cut a throat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That sings so sweet a note."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>'Tis thus, whatever peril may alarm us,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Sweet words will never harm us.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i009.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE SWAN AND THE COOK." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Weasel in the Granary.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A weasel through a hole contrived to squeeze,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">(She was recovering from disease,)<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Which led her to a farmer's hoard.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">There lodged, her wasted form she cherish'd;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Heaven knows the lard and victuals stored<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That by her gnawing perish'd!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of which the consequence<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Was sudden corpulence.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A week or so was past,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When having fully broken fast,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A noise she heard, and hurried<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To find the hole by which she came,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And seem'd to find it not the same;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So round she ran, most sadly flurried;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, coming back, thrust out her head,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which, sticking there, she said,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"This is the hole, there can't be blunder:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What makes it now so small, I wonder,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Where, but the other day, I pass'd with ease?"<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A rat her trouble sees,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And cries, "But with an emptier belly;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">You enter'd lean, and lean must sally."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i010.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE WEASEL IN THE GRANARY." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Shepherd and the Sea.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">A shepherd, neighbour to the sea,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Lived with his flock contentedly.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His fortune, though but small,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Was safe within his call.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At last some stranded kegs of gold<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Him tempted, and his flock he sold,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Turn'd merchant, and the ocean's waves<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Bore all his treasure—to its caves.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Brought back to keeping sheep once more,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But not chief shepherd, as before,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When sheep were his that grazed the shore,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He who, as Corydon or Thyrsis,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Might once have shone in pastoral verses,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Bedeck'd with rhyme and metre,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Was nothing now but Peter.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But time and toil redeem'd in full<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Those harmless creatures rich in wool;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And as the lulling winds, one day,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The vessels wafted with a gentle motion,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Want you," he cried, "more money, Madam Ocean?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Address yourself to some one else, I pray;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">You shall not get it out of me!<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I know too well your treachery."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i8"><i>This tale's no fiction, but a fact,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Which, by experience back'd,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Proves that a single penny,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i10"><i>At present held, and certain,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Is worth five times as many,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i10"><i>Of Hope's, beyond the curtain;</i><br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>That one should be content with his condition,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And shut his ears to counsels of ambition,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>More faithless than the wreck-strown sea, and which</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Doth thousands beggar where it makes one rich,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Inspires the hope of wealth, in glorious forms,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And blasts the same with piracy and storms.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i011.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE SHEPHERD and THE SEA." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass and the Little Dog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">One's native talent from its course<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Cannot be turned aside by force;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But poorly apes the country clown<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The polish'd manners of the town.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their Maker chooses but a few<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With power of pleasing to imbue;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Where wisely leave it we, the mass,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Unlike a certain fabled ass,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That thought to gain his master's blessing<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By jumping on him and caressing.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"What!" said the donkey in his heart;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Ought it to be that puppy's part<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To lead his useless life<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In full companionship<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With master and his wife,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">While I must bear the whip?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What doth the cur a kiss to draw?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forsooth, he only gives his paw!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">If that is all there needs to please,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I'll do the thing myself, with ease."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Possess'd with this bright notion,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His master sitting on his chair,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At leisure in the open air,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He ambled up, with awkward motion,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And put his talents to the proof;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upraised his bruised and batter'd hoof,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, with an amiable mien,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His master patted on the chin,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The action gracing with a word—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The fondest bray that e'er was heard!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">O, such caressing was there ever?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Or melody with such a quaver?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Ho! Martin! here! a club, a club bring!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Out cried the master, sore offended.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So Martin gave the ass a drubbing,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And so the comedy was ended.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i012.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE ASS and the LITTLE DOG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Man and the Wooden God.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A pagan kept a god of wood,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A sort that never hears,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Though furnish'd well with ears,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From which he hoped for wondrous good.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The idol cost the board of three;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So much enrich'd was he<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With vows and offerings vain,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With bullocks garlanded and slain:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No idol ever had, as that,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A kitchen quite so full and fat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But all this worship at his shrine<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Brought not from this same block divine<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Inheritance, or hidden mine,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Or luck at play, or any favour.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Nay, more, if any storm whatever<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Brew'd trouble here or there,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The man was sure to have his share,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And suffer in his purse,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Although the god fared none the worse.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At last, by sheer impatience bold,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The man a crowbar seizes,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His idol breaks in pieces,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And finds it richly stuff'd with gold.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"How's this? Have I devoutly treated,"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Says he, "your godship, to be cheated?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Now leave my house, and go your way,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And search for altars where you may."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i013.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE MAN AND THE WOODEN GOD." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ears of the Hare.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Some beast with horns did gore<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The lion; and that sovereign dread,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Resolved to suffer so no more,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Straight banish'd from his realm, 'tis said,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All sorts of beasts with horns—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Rams, bulls, goats, stags, and unicorns.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Such brutes all promptly fled.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A hare, the shadow of his ears perceiving,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Could hardly help believing<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That some vile spy for horns would take them,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And food for accusation make them.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Adieu," said he, "my neighbour cricket;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I take my foreign ticket.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">My ears, should I stay here,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Will turn to horns, I fear;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And were they shorter than a bird's,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I fear the effect of words."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"These horns!" the cricket answer'd; "why,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">God made them ears who can deny?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Yes," said the coward, "still they'll make them horns,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And horns, perhaps, of unicorns!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In vain shall I protest,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With all the learning of the schools:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My reasons they will send to rest<br /></span>
<span class="i8">In th' Hospital of Fools."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i014.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE EARS OF THE HARE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Old Woman and Her Servants.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A beldam kept two spinning maids,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Who plied so handily their trades,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Those spinning sisters down below<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Were bunglers when compared with these.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No care did this old woman know<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But giving tasks as she might please.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No sooner did the god of day<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His glorious locks enkindle,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Than both the wheels began to play,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And from each whirling spindle<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forth danced the thread right merrily,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And back was coil'd unceasingly.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Soon as the dawn, I say, its tresses show'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A graceless cock most punctual crow'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The beldam roused, more graceless yet,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In greasy petticoat bedight,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Struck up her farthing light,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And then forthwith the bed beset,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Where deeply, blessedly did snore<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Those two maid-servants tired and poor.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One oped an eye, an arm one stretch'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And both their breath most sadly fetch'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This threat concealing in the sigh—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"That cursed cock shall surely die!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And so he did:—they cut his throat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And put to sleep his rousing note.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And yet this murder mended not<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The cruel hardship of their lot;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For now the twain were scarce in bed<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Before they heard the summons dread.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The beldam, full of apprehension<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Lest oversleep should cause detention,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Ran like a goblin through her mansion.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>Thus often, when one thinks</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To clear himself from ill,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>His effort only sinks</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Him in the deeper still.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>The beldam acting for the cock,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Was Scylla for Charybdis' rock.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i015.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE OLD WOMAN AND HER TWO SERVANTS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass Carrying Relics.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">An ass, with relics for his load,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Supposed the worship on the road<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Meant for himself alone,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And took on lofty airs,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Receiving as his own<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The incense and the prayers.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Some one, who saw his great mistake,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Cried, "Master Donkey, do not make<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Yourself so big a fool.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not you they worship, but your pack;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They praise the idols on your back,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And count yourself a paltry tool."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>'Tis thus a brainless magistrate</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Is honour'd for his robe of state.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i016.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE ASS CARRYING RELICS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Hare and the Partridge.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A field in common share<br /></span>
<span class="i8">A partridge and a hare,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And live in peaceful state,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Till, woeful to relate!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The hunters' mingled cry<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Compels the hare to fly.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He hurries to his fort,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And spoils almost the sport<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By faulting every hound<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That yelps upon the ground.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At last his reeking heat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Betrays his snug retreat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Old Tray, with philosophic nose,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Snuffs carefully, and grows<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So certain, that he cries,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"The hare is here; bow wow!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And veteran Ranger now,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The dog that never lies,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"The hare is gone," replies.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Alas! poor, wretched hare,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Back comes he to his lair,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To meet destruction there!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The partridge, void of fear,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Begins her friend to jeer:—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"You bragg'd of being fleet;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">How serve you, now, your feet?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Scarce has she ceased to speak,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The laugh yet in her beak,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When comes her turn to die,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From which she could not fly.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">She thought her wings, indeed,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Enough for every need;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But in her laugh and talk,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forgot the cruel hawk!<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i017.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE HARE and THE PARTRIDGE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion Going to War.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The lion had an enterprise in hand;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Held a war-council, sent his provost-marshal,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And gave the animals a call impartial—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each, in his way, to serve his high command.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The elephant should carry on his back<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The tools of war, the mighty public pack,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And fight in elephantine way and form;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The bear should hold himself prepared to storm;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fox all secret stratagems should fix;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The monkey should amuse the foe by tricks.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Dismiss," said one, "the blockhead asses,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And hares, too cowardly and fleet."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"No," said the king; "I use all classes;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Without their aid my force were incomplete.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The ass shall be our trumpeter, to scare<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our enemy. And then the nimble hare<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our royal bulletins shall homeward bear."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>A monarch provident and wise</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Will hold his subjects all of consequence,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>And know in each what talent lies.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>There's nothing useless to a man of sense.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i018.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE LION GOING TO WAR." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Old Man and the Ass.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">An old man, riding on his ass,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Had found a spot of thrifty grass,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And there turn'd loose his weary beast.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Old Grizzle, pleased with such a feast,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Flung up his heels, and caper'd round,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Then roll'd and rubb'd upon the ground,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And frisk'd and browsed and bray'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And many a clean spot made.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Arm'd men came on them as he fed:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Let's fly," in haste the old man said.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"And wherefore so?" the ass replied;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"With heavier burdens will they ride?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"No," said the man, already started.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Then," cried the ass, as he departed<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I'll stay, and be—no matter whose;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Save you yourself, and leave me loose<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But let me tell you, ere you go,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">(I speak plain English, as you know,)<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My master is my only foe."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i019.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE OLD MAN AND THE ASS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass and his Masters.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A gardener's ass complain'd to Destiny<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of being made to rise before the dawn.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"The cocks their matins have not sung," said he,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Ere I am up and gone.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And all for what? To market herbs, it seems.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Fine cause, indeed, to interrupt my dreams!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Fate, moved by such a prayer,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sent him a currier's load to bear,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Whose hides so heavy and ill-scented were,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They almost choked the foolish beast.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"I wish me with my former lord," he said:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"For then, whene'er he turn'd his head,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">If on the watch, I caught<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A cabbage-leaf, which cost me nought.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, in this horrid place, I find<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No chance or windfall of the kind;—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Or if, indeed, I do,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The cruel blows I rue."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Anon it came to pass<br /></span>
<span class="i6">He was a collier's ass.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Still more complaint. "What now?" said Fate,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Quite out of patience.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"If on this jackass I must wait,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What will become of kings and nations?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Has none but he aught here to tease him?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Have I no business but to please him?"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And Fate had cause;—for all are so<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Unsatisfied while here below.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Our present lot is aye the worst.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our foolish prayers the skies infest.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Were Jove to grant all we request,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The din renew'd, his head would burst.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 357px;">
<img src="images/i020.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="THE ASS AND HIS MASTERS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wax-Candle.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">From bowers of gods the bees came down to man.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">On Mount Hymettus, first, they say,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They made their home, and stored away<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The treasures which the zephyrs fan.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">When men had robb'd these daughters of the sky,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And left their palaces of nectar dry,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or, in English as the thing's explain'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When hives were of their honey drain'd—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The spoilers 'gan the wax to handle,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And fashion'd from it many a candle.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of these, one, seeing clay, made brick by fire,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Remain uninjured by the teeth of time,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Was kindled into great desire<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For immortality sublime.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And so this new Empedocles<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upon the blazing pile one sees,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Self-doom'd by purest folly<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To fate so melancholy.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The candle lack'd philosophy:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All things are made diverse to be.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To wander from our destined tracks—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">There cannot be a vainer wish;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But this Empedocles of wax,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That melted in chafing-dish<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Was truly not a greater fool<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Than he of whom we read at school.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i021.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE WAX-CANDLE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Shepherd and his Flock.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6">"What! shall I lose them one by one,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">This stupid coward throng?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And never shall the wolf have done?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They were at least a thousand strong,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But still they've let poor Robin fall a prey!<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Ah, woe's the day!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Poor Robin Wether lying dead!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He follow'd for a bit of bread<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His master through the crowded city,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And would have follow'd, had he led,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Around the world. Oh! what a pity!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My pipe, and even step, he knew;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To meet me when I came, he flew;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In hedge-row shade we napp'd together;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Alas, alas, my Robin Wether!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When Willy thus had duly said<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His eulogy upon the dead,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And unto everlasting fame<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Consign'd poor Robin Wether's name,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He then harangued the flock at large,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From proud old chieftain rams<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Down to the smallest lambs,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Addressing them this weighty charge,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Against the wolf, as one, to stand,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In firm, united, fearless band,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By which they might expel him from their land.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upon their faith, they would not flinch,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They promised him, a single inch.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"We'll choke," said they, "the murderous glutton<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who robb'd us of our Robin Mutton."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their lives they pledged against the beast,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And Willy gave them all a feast.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But evil Fate, than Phœbus faster,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Ere night had brought a new disaster:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A wolf there came. By nature's law,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The total flock were prompt to run;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And yet 'twas not the wolf they saw,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But shadow of him from the setting sun.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Harangue a craven soldiery,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>What heroes they will seem to be!</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>But let them snuff the smoke of battle,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Or even hear the ramrods rattle,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Adieu to all their boast and mettle:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Your own example will be vain,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>And exhortations, to retain</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The timid cattle.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i022.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Tortoise and the Two Ducks.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A light-brain'd tortoise, anciently,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Tired of her hole, the world would see.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Prone are all such, self-banish'd, to roam—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Prone are all cripples to abhor their home.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Two ducks, to whom the gossip told<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The secret of her purpose bold,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Profess'd to have the means whereby<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They could her wishes gratify.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Our boundless road," said they, "behold!<br /></span>
<span class="i6">It is the open air;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And through it we will bear<br /></span>
<span class="i4">You safe o'er land and ocean.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Republics, kingdoms, you will view,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And famous cities, old and new;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And get of customs, laws, a notion,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of various wisdom, various pieces,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As did, indeed, the sage Ulysses."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The eager tortoise waited not<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To question what Ulysses got,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But closed the bargain on the spot.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A nice machine the birds devise<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To bear their pilgrim through the skies.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Athwart her mouth a stick they throw:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Now bite it hard, and don't let go,"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They say, and seize each duck an end,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, swiftly flying, upward tend.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It made the people gape and stare<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Beyond the expressive power of words,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To see a tortoise cut the air,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Exactly poised between two birds.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"A miracle," they cried, "is seen!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">There goes the flying tortoise queen!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"The queen!" ('twas thus the tortoise spoke;)<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I'm truly that, without a joke."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Much better had she held her tongue,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For, opening that whereby she clung,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Before the gazing crowd she fell,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And dash'd to bits her brittle shell.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Imprudence, vanity, and babble,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And idle curiosity,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>An ever-undivided rabble,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Have all the same paternity.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
<img src="images/i023.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="THE TORTOISE AND THE TWO DUCKS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Asses.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two asses tracking, t'other day,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Of which each in his turn,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Did incense to the other burn,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Quite in the usual way,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I heard one to his comrade say,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"My lord, do you not find<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The prince of knaves and fools<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To be this man, who boasts of mind<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Instructed in his schools?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With wit unseemly and profane,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">He mocks our venerable race—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">On each of his who lacketh brain<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Bestows our ancient surname, ass!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, with abusive tongue portraying,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Describes our laugh and talk as braying!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">These bipeds of their folly tell us,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">While thus pretending to excel us."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"No, 'tis for you to speak, my friend,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And let their orators attend.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The braying is their own, but let them be:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">We understand each other, and agree,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And that's enough. As for your song,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Such wonders to its notes belong,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The nightingale is put to shame,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The Sirens lose one half their fame."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My lord," the other ass replied,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Such talents in yourself reside,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of asses all, the joy and pride."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">These donkeys, not quite satisfied<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With scratching thus each other's hide,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Must needs the cities visit,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their fortunes there to raise,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">By sounding forth the praise,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Each, of the other's skill exquisite.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i024.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE TWO ASSES." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Shepherd and his Dog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A shepherd, with a single dog,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was ask'd the reason why<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He kept a dog, whose least supply<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Amounted to a loaf of bread<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For every day. The people said<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He'd better give the animal<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To guard the village seignior's hall;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For him, a shepherd, it would be<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A thriftier economy<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To keep small curs, say two or three,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That would not cost him half the food,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And yet for watching be as good.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fools, perhaps, forgot to tell<br /></span>
<span class="i0">If they would fight the wolf as well.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The silly shepherd, giving heed,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Cast off his dog of mastiff breed,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And took three dogs to watch his cattle,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which ate far less, but fled in battle.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Not vain our tale, if it convinces</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Small states that 'tis a wiser thing</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>To trust a single powerful king,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Than half a dozen petty princes.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i025.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE SHEPHERD AND HIS DOG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Mules.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two mules were bearing on their backs,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">One, oats; the other, silver of the tax.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The latter glorying in his load,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">March'd proudly forward on the road;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, from the jingle of his bell,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'Twas plain he liked his burden well.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But in a wild-wood glen<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A band of robber men<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Rush'd forth upon the twain.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Well with the silver pleased,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">They by the bridle seized<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The treasure mule so vain.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Poor mule! in struggling to repel<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His ruthless foes, he fell<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Stabb'd through; and with a bitter sighing,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He cried, "Is this the lot they promised me?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My humble friend from danger free,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While, weltering in my gore, I'm dying?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My friend," his fellow-mule replied,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"It is not well to have one's work too high.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">If thou hadst been a miller's drudge, as I,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thou wouldst not thus have died."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i026.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE TWO MULES." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The heifer, the goat, and their sister the sheep,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Compacted their earnings in common to keep,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Tis said, in time past, with a lion, who sway'd<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Full lordship o'er neighbours, of whatever grade.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The goat, as it happen'd, a stag having snared,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Sent off to the rest, that the beast might be shared.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">All gather'd; the lion first counts on his claws,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And says, "We'll proceed to divide with our paws<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The stag into pieces, as fix'd by our laws."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This done, he announces part first as his own;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"'Tis mine," he says, "truly, as lion alone."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To such a decision there's nought to be said,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As he who has made it is doubtless the head.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Well, also, the second to me should belong;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Tis mine, be it known, by the right of the strong.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Again, as the bravest, the third must be mine.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To touch but the fourth whoso maketh a sign,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I'll choke him to death<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In the space of a breath!"<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i027.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE HEIFER, THE GOAT, & THE SHEEP." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two rats in foraging fell on an egg,—<br /></span>
<span class="i8">For gentry such as they<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A genteel dinner every way;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They needed not to find an ox's leg.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Brimful of joy and appetite,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">They were about to sack the box,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">So tight without the aid of locks,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When suddenly there came in sight<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A personage—Sir Pullet Fox.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Sure, luck was never more untoward<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Since Fortune was a vixen froward!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">How should they save their egg—and bacon?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their plunder couldn't then be bagg'd;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Should it in forward paws be taken,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or roll'd along, or dragg'd?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Each method seem'd impossible,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And each was then of danger full.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Necessity, ingenious mother,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Brought forth what help'd them from their pother.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As still there was a chance to save their prey,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The sponger yet some hundred yards away,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One seized the egg, and turn'd upon his back,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And then, in spite of many a thump and thwack,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That would have torn, perhaps, a coat of mail,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The other dragg'd him by the tail.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Who dares the inference to blink,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That beasts possess wherewith to think?<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>Were I commission'd to bestow</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>This power on creatures here below,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>The beasts should have as much of mind</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>As infants of the human kind.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i028.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE TWO RATS the FOX and the EGG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Man and his Image.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A man, who had no rivals in the love<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which to himself he bore,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Esteem'd his own dear beauty far above<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What earth had seen before.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">More than contented in his error,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He lived the foe of every mirror.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Officious fate, resolved our lover<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From such an illness should recover,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Presented always to his eyes<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The mute advisers which the ladies prize;—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Mirrors in parlours, inns, and shops,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Mirrors the pocket furniture of fops,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Mirrors on every lady's zone,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From which his face reflected shone.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What could our dear Narcissus do?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From haunts of men he now withdrew,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">On purpose that his precious shape<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From every mirror might escape.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But in his forest glen alone,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Apart from human trace,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">A watercourse,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Of purest source,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">While with unconscious gaze<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He pierced its waveless face,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Reflected back his own.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Incensed with mingled rage and fright,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He seeks to shun the odious sight;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But yet that mirror sheet, so clear and still,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He cannot leave, do what he will.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Ere this, my story's drift you plainly see.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>From such mistake there is no mortal free.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>That obstinate self-lover</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>The human soul doth cover;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The mirrors' follies are of others,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>In which, as all are genuine brothers,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Each soul may see to life depicted</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Itself with just such faults afflicted;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And by that charming placid brook,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Needless to say, I mean your Maxim Book.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i029.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE MAN AND HIS IMAGE" title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Dragon with Many Heads.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">An envoy of the Porte Sublime,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">As history says, once on a time,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Before th' imperial German court<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Did rather boastfully report,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The troops commanded by his master's firman,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As being a stronger army than the German:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To which replied a Dutch attendant,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Our prince has more than one dependant<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Who keeps an army at his own expense."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The Turk, a man of sense,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Rejoin'd, "I am aware<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What power your emperor's servants share.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">It brings to mind a tale both strange and true,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A thing which once, myself, I chanced to view.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I saw come darting through a hedge,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which fortified a rocky ledge,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A hydra's hundred heads; and in a trice<br /></span>
<span class="i6">My blood was turning into ice.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But less the harm than terror,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The body came no nearer;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Nor could, unless it had been sunder'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To parts at least a hundred.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">While musing deeply on this sight,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Another dragon came to light,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Whose single head avails<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To lead a hundred tails:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, seized with juster fright,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I saw him pass the hedge,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Head, body, tails,—a wedge<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of living and resistless powers.—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The other was your emperor's force; this ours."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i030.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE DRAGON WITH MANY HEADS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
<h2>Death and the Woodman</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A poor wood-chopper, with his fagot load,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Whom weight of years, as well as load, oppress'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Sore groaning in his smoky hut to rest,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Trudged wearily along his homeward road.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At last his wood upon the ground he throws,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And sits him down to think o'er all his woes.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To joy a stranger, since his hapless birth,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What poorer wretch upon this rolling earth?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No bread sometimes, and ne'er a moment's rest;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Wife, children, soldiers, landlords, public tax,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">All wait the swinging of his old, worn axe,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And paint the veriest picture of a man unblest.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On Death he calls. Forthwith that monarch grim<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Appears, and asks what he should do for him.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Not much, indeed; a little help I lack—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To put these fagots on my back."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Death ready stands all ills to cure;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>But let us not his cure invite.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Than die, 'tis better to endure,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Is both a manly maxim and a right.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i031.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="DEATH AND THE WOODMAN." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Hornets and the Bees.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">"The artist by his work is known."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A piece of honey-comb, one day,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Discover'd as a waif and stray,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The hornets treated as their own.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their title did the bees dispute,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And brought before a wasp the suit.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The judge was puzzled to decide,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For nothing could be testified<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Save that around this honey-comb<br /></span>
<span class="i2">There had been seen, as if at home,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Some longish, brownish, buzzing creatures,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Much like the bees in wings and features.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But what of that? for marks the same,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The hornets, too, could truly claim.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Between assertion, and denial,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The wasp, in doubt, proclaim'd new trial;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, hearing what an ant-hill swore,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could see no clearer than before.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"What use, I pray, of this expense?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At last exclaim'd a bee of sense.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"We've labour'd months in this affair,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And now are only where we were.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Meanwhile the honey runs to waste:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Tis time the judge should show some haste.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The parties, sure, have had sufficient bleeding,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Without more fuss of scrawls and pleading.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Let's set ourselves at work, these drones and we<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And then all eyes the truth may plainly see,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whose art it is that can produce<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The magic cells, the nectar juice."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The hornets, flinching on their part,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Show that the work transcends their art.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The wasp at length their title sees,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And gives the honey to the bees.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>Would God that suits at law with us</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Might all be managed thus!</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
<img src="images/i032.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="THE HORNETS AND THE BEES." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Oak and the Reed.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The oak one day address'd the reed:—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"To you ungenerous indeed<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Has nature been, my humble friend,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With weakness aye obliged to bend.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The smallest bird that flits in air<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is quite too much for you to bear;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The slightest wind that wreathes the lake<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Your ever-trembling head doth shake.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The while, my towering form<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Dares with the mountain top<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The solar blaze to stop,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And wrestle with the storm.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What seems to you the blast of death,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To me is but a zephyr's breath.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Beneath my branches had you grown,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Less suffering would your life have known,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Unhappily you oftenest show<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In open air your slender form,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Along the marshes wet and low,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That fringe the kingdom of the storm.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To you, declare I must,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Dame Nature seems unjust."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Then modestly replied the reed:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Your pity, sir, is kind indeed,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But wholly needless for my sake.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The wildest wind that ever blew<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is safe to me compared with you.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I bend, indeed, but never break.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thus far, I own, the hurricane<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Has beat your sturdy back in vain;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But wait the end." Just at the word,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The tempest's hollow voice was heard.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The North sent forth her fiercest child,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Dark, jagged, pitiless, and wild.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The oak, erect, endured the blow;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The reed bow'd gracefully and low.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, gathering up its strength once more,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In greater fury than before,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The savage blast<br /></span>
<span class="i6">O'erthrew, at last,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That proud, old, sky-encircled head,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whose feet entwined the empire of the dead!<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i033.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE OAK AND THE REED." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Council held by the Rats.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Old Rodilard, a certain cat,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Such havoc of the rats had made,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'Twas difficult to find a rat<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With nature's debt unpaid.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The few that did remain,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To leave their holes afraid,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From usual food abstain,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Not eating half their fill.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And wonder no one will<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That one who made of rats his revel,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With rats pass'd not for cat, but devil.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Now, on a day, this dread rat-eater,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who had a wife, went out to meet her;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And while he held his caterwauling,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The unkill'd rats, their chapter calling,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Discuss'd the point, in grave debate,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">How they might shun impending fate.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their dean, a prudent rat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thought best, and better soon than late,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To bell the fatal cat;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That, when he took his hunting round,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The rats, well caution'd by the sound,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Might hide in safety under ground;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Indeed he knew no other means.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And all the rest<br /></span>
<span class="i6">At once confess'd<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their minds were with the dean's.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No better plan, they all believed,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Could possibly have been conceived.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No doubt the thing would work right well,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">If any one would hang the bell.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, one by one, said every rat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I'm not so big a fool as that."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The plan knock'd up in this respect,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The council closed without effect.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">And many a council I have seen,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or reverend chapter with its dean,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That, thus resolving wisely,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Fell through like this precisely.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>To argue or refute</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Wise counsellors abound;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The man to execute</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Is harder to be found.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i034.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE COUNCIL HELD BY THE RATS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Bulls and the Frog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Two bulls engaged in shocking battle,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Both for a certain heifer's sake,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And lordship over certain cattle,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A frog began to groan and quake.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"But what is this to you?"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Inquired another of the croaking crew.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Why, sister, don't you see,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The end of this will be,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That one of these big brutes will yield,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And then be exiled from the field?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No more permitted on the grass to feed,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He'll forage through our marsh, on rush and reed;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And while he eats or chews the cud,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Will trample on us in the mud.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Alas! to think how frogs must suffer<br /></span>
<span class="i4">By means of this proud lady heifer!"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This fear was not without good sense.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One bull was beat, and much to their expense;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For, quick retreating to their reedy bower,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He trod on twenty of them in an hour.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Of little folks it oft has been the fate</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>To suffer for the follies of the great.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i035.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE TWO BULLS AND THE FROG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Bat and the Two Weasels.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A blundering bat once stuck her head<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Into a wakeful weasel's bed;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whereat the mistress of the house,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A deadly foe of rats and mice,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Was making ready in a trice<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To eat the stranger as a mouse.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"What! do you dare," she said, "to creep in<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The very bed I sometimes sleep in,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Now, after all the provocation<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I've suffered from your thievish nation?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Are you not really a mouse,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That gnawing pest of every house,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Your special aim to do the cheese ill?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Ay, that you are, or I'm no weasel."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"I beg your pardon," said the bat;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My kind is very far from that.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What! I a mouse! Who told you such a lie?<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Why, ma'am, I am a bird;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And, if you doubt my word,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Just see the wings with which I fly.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Long live the mice that cleave the sky!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">These reasons had so fair a show,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The weasel let the creature go.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6">By some strange fancy led,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The same wise blunderhead,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But two or three days later,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had chosen for her rest<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Another weasel's nest,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This last, of birds a special hater.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">New peril brought this step absurd:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Without a moment's thought or puzzle,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Dame weasel opened her peaked muzzle<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To eat th' intruder as a bird.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Hold! do not wrong me," cried the bat;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I'm truly no such thing as that.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Your eyesight strange conclusions gathers.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What makes a bird, I pray? Its feathers.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I'm cousin of the mice and rats.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Great Jupiter confound the cats!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bat, by such adroit replying,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Twice saved herself from dying.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>And many a human stranger</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Thus turns his coat in danger;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And sings, as suits, where'er he goes,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>"God save the king!"—or "save his foes!"</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px;">
<img src="images/i036.jpg" width="359" height="500" alt="THE BAT and the two WEASELS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Bird wounded by an Arrow.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A bird, with plumèd arrow shot,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In dying case deplored her lot:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Alas!" she cried, "the anguish of the thought!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This ruin partly by myself was brought!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Hard-hearted men! from us to borrow<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What wings to us the fatal arrow!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But mock us not, ye cruel race,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For you must often take our place."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>The work of half the human brothers</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Is making arms against the others.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i037.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE BIRD WOUNDED BY AN ARROW." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion and the Gnat.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">"Go, paltry insect, nature's meanest brat!"<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Thus said the royal lion to the gnat.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The gnat declared immediate war.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Think you," said he, "your royal name<br /></span>
<span class="i8">To me worth caring for?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Think you I tremble at your power or fame?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The ox is bigger far than you;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Yet him I drive, and all his crew."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This said, as one that did no fear owe,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Himself he blew the battle charge,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Himself both trumpeter and hero.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">At first he play'd about at large,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Then on the lion's neck, at leisure, settled,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And there the royal beast full sorely nettled.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With foaming mouth, and flashing eye,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He roars. All creatures hide or fly,—<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Such mortal terror at<br /></span>
<span class="i8">The work of one poor gnat!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With constant change of his attack,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The snout now stinging, now the back,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And now the chambers of the nose;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The pigmy fly no mercy shows.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The lion's rage was at its height;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His viewless foe now laugh'd outright,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When on his battle-ground he saw,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That every savage tooth and claw<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Had got its proper beauty<br /></span>
<span class="i8">By doing bloody duty;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Himself, the hapless lion, tore his hide,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And lash'd with sounding tail from side to side.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Ah! bootless blow, and bite, and curse!<br /></span>
<span class="i6">He beat the harmless air, and worse;<br /></span>
<span class="i8">For, though so fierce and stout,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">By effort wearied out,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">He fainted, fell, gave up the quarrel;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The gnat retires with verdant laurel.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i8"><i>We often have the most to fear</i><br /></span>
<span class="i10"><i>From those we most despise;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Again, great risks a man may clear,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i10"><i>Who by the smallest dies.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
<img src="images/i038.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="THE LION AND THE GNAT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass Loaded with Sponges.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A man, whom I shall call an ass-eteer,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His sceptre like some Roman emperor bearing,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Drove on two coursers of protracted ear,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The one, with sponges laden, briskly faring;<br /></span>
<span class="i8">The other lifting legs<br /></span>
<span class="i8">As if he trod on eggs,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">With constant need of goading,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And bags of salt for loading.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">O'er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till, coming to a river's ford at last,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They stopp'd quite puzzled on the shore.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our asseteer had cross'd the stream before;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So, on the lighter beast astride,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He drives the other, spite of dread,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which, loath indeed to go ahead,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Into a deep hole turns aside,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And, facing right about,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Where he went in, comes out;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">For duckings, two or three<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Had power the salt to melt,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">So that the creature felt<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His burden'd shoulders free.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The sponger, like a sequent sheep,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Pursuing through the water deep,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Into the same hole plunges<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Himself, his rider, and the sponges.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All three drank deeply: asseteer and ass<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For boon companions of their load might pass;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which last became so sore a weight,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">The ass fell down,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Belike to drown<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His rider risking equal fate.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A helper came, no matter who.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>The moral needs no more ado—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>That all can't act alike,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>The point I wish'd to strike.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 346px;">
<img src="images/i039.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="THE ASS LOADED WITH SPONGES." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Dove and the Ant.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A dove came to a brook to drink,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">When, leaning o'er its crumbling brink,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">An ant fell in, and vainly tried,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In this, to her, an ocean tide,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To reach the land; whereat the dove,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With every living thing in love,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was prompt a spire of grass to throw her,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By which the ant regain'd the shore.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A barefoot scamp, both mean and sly,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Soon after chanced this dove to spy;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And, being arm'd with bow and arrow,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The hungry codger doubted not<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bird of Venus, in his pot,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Would make a soup before the morrow.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Just as his deadly bow he drew,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Our ant just bit his heel.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Roused by the villain's squeal,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The dove took timely hint, and flew<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Far from the rascal's coop;—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And with her flew his soup.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i040.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE DOVE AND THE ANT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Cock and the Fox.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Upon a tree there mounted guard<br /></span>
<span class="i8">A veteran cock, adroit and cunning;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When to the roots a fox up running,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Spoke thus, in tones of kind regard:—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Our quarrel, brother, 's at an end;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Henceforth I hope to live your friend;<br /></span>
<span class="i10">For peace now reigns<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Throughout the animal domains.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I bear the news:—come down, I pray,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">And give me the embrace fraternal;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And please, my brother, don't delay.<br /></span>
<span class="i8">So much the tidings do concern all,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That I must spread them far to-day.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Now you and yours can take your walks<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Without a fear or thought of hawks.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And should you clash with them or others,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In us you'll find the best of brothers;—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For which you may, this joyful night,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Your merry bonfires light.<br /></span>
<span class="i10">But, first, let's seal the bliss<br /></span>
<span class="i10">With one fraternal kiss."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Good friend," the cock replied, "upon my word,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A better thing I never heard;<br /></span>
<span class="i12">And doubly I rejoice<br /></span>
<span class="i12">To hear it from your voice;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, really there must be something in it,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For yonder come two greyhounds, which I flatter<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Myself are couriers on this very matter.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They come so fast, they'll be here in a minute.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I'll down, and all of us will seal the blessing<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With general kissing and caressing."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Adieu," said fox; "my errand's pressing;<br /></span>
<span class="i14">I'll hurry on my way,<br /></span>
<span class="i14">And we'll rejoice some other day."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So off the fellow scamper'd, quick and light,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To gain the fox-holes of a neighbouring height,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Less happy in his stratagem than flight.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The cock laugh'd sweetly in his sleeve;—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">'Tis doubly sweet deceiver to deceive.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i041.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE COCK AND THE FOX." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion beaten by the Man.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">A picture once was shown,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">In which one man, alone,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Upon the ground had thrown<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A lion fully grown.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Much gloried at the sight the rabble.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A lion thus rebuked their babble:—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"That you have got the victory there,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">There is no contradiction.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, gentles, possibly you are<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The dupes of easy fiction:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Had we the art of making pictures,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Perhaps our champion had beat yours!"<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 357px;">
<img src="images/i042.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="THE LION BEATEN BY THE MAN." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
<h2>Philomel and Progne.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">From home and city spires, one day,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The swallow Progne flew away,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And sought the bosky dell<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Where sang poor Philomel.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"My sister," Progne said, "how do you do?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Tis now a thousand years since you<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Have been conceal'd from human view;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I'm sure I have not seen your face<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Once since the times of Thrace.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pray, will you never quit this dull retreat?"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Where could I find," said Philomel, "so sweet?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"What! sweet?" cried Progne—"sweet to waste<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Such tones on beasts devoid of taste<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Or on some rustic, at the most!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Should you by deserts be engross'd?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Come, be the city's pride and boast.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Besides, the woods remind of harms<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That Tereus in them did your charms."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Alas!" replied the bird of song,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"The thought of that so cruel wrong<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Makes me, from age to age,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Prefer this hermitage;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For nothing like the sight of men<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Can call up what I suffer'd then."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i043.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="PHILOMEL and PROGNE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Camel and the Floating Sticks.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The first who saw the humpback'd camel<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Fled off for life; the next approach'd with care;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The third with tyrant rope did boldly dare<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The desert wanderer to trammel.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Such is the power of use to change<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The face of objects new and strange;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which grow, by looking at, so tame,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They do not even seem the same.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And since this theme is up for our attention,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A certain watchman I will mention,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Who, seeing something far<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Away upon the ocean,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Could not but speak his notion<br /></span>
<span class="i6">That 'twas a ship of war.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Some minutes more had past,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A bomb-ketch 'twas without a sail,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And then a boat, and then a bale,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And floating sticks of wood at last!<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>Full many things on earth, I wot,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Will claim this tale,—and well they may;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>They're something dreadful far away,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>But near at hand—they're not.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i044.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE CAMEL AND THE FLOATING STICKS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">As went a goat of grass to take her fill,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And browse the herbage of a distant hill,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">She latch'd her door, and bid,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With matron care, her kid;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"My daughter, as you live,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">This portal don't undo<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To any creature who<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This watchword does not give:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'Deuce take the wolf and all his race!'"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The wolf was passing near the place<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By chance, and heard the words with pleasure,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And laid them up as useful treasure;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And hardly need we mention,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Escaped the goat's attention.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">No sooner did he see<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The matron off, than he,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With hypocritic tone and face,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Cried out before the place,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Deuce take the wolf and all his race!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Not doubting thus to gain admission.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The kid, not void of all suspicion,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Peer'd through a crack, and cried,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Show me white paw before<br /></span>
<span class="i6">You ask me to undo the door."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The wolf could not, if he had died,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">For wolves have no connection<br /></span>
<span class="i6">With pains of that complexion.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So, much surprised, our gourmandiser<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Retired to fast till he was wiser.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>How would the kid have been undone</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Had she but trusted to the word?</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>The wolf by chance had overheard!</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Two sureties better are than one;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>And caution's worth its cost,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Though sometimes seeming lost.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i045.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE WOLF, the GOAT, and the KID." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Rat Retired from the World.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The sage Levantines have a tale<br /></span>
<span class="i4">About a rat that weary grew<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of all the cares which life assail,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And to a Holland cheese withdrew.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His solitude was there profound,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Extending through his world so round.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our hermit lived on that within;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And soon his industry had been<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With claws and teeth so good,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That in his novel hermitage,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He had in store, for wants of age,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Both house and livelihood.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One day this personage devout,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Whose kindness none might doubt,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was ask'd, by certain delegates<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That came from Rat-United-States,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For some small aid, for they<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To foreign parts were on their way,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For succour in the great cat-war.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Ratopolis beleaguer'd sore,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their whole republic drain'd and poor,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No morsel in their scrips they bore.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Slight boon they craved, of succour sure<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In days at utmost three or four.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"My friends," the hermit said,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"To worldly things I'm dead.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">How can a poor recluse<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To such a mission be of use?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What can he do but pray<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That God will aid it on its way?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And so, my friends, it is my prayer<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That God will have you in his care."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His well-fed saintship said no more,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But in their faces shut the door.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>What think you, reader, is the service</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>For which I use this niggard rat?</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>To paint a monk? No, but a dervise.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>A monk, I think, however fat,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Must be more bountiful than that.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i046.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE RAT retired from the world." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Cunning Fox.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A fox once practised, 'tis believed,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A stratagem right well conceived.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The wretch, when in the utmost strait<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By dogs of nose so delicate,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Approach'd a gallows, where,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A lesson to like passengers,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or clothed in feathers or in furs,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Some badgers, owls, and foxes, pendent were.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their comrade, in his pressing need,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Arranged himself among the dead.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I seem to see old Hannibal<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Outwit some Roman general,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And sit securely in his tent,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The legions on some other scent.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But certain dogs, kept back<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To tell the errors of the pack,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Arriving where the traitor hung,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A fault in fullest chorus sung.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Though by their bark the welkin rung,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their master made them hold the tongue.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Suspecting not a trick so odd,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Said he, "The rogue's beneath the sod.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">My dogs, that never saw such jokes,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Won't bark beyond these honest folks."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The rogue would try the trick again.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He did so to his cost and pain.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Again with dogs the welkin rings;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Again our fox from gallows swings;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But though he hangs with greater faith<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This time, he does it to his death.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>So uniformly is it true,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>A stratagem is best when new.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i047.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE CUNNING FOX." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ape.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">There is an ape in Paris,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To which was given a wife:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Like many a one that marries,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This ape, in brutal strife,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Soon beat her out of life.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their infant cries,—perhaps not fed,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But cries, I ween, in vain;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The father laughs: his wife is dead,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And he has other loves again,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which he will also beat, I think,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Return'd from tavern drown'd in drink.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>For aught that's good, you need not look</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Among the imitative tribe;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>A monkey be it, or what makes a book—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>The worse, I deem—the aping scribe.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i048.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="THE APE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Fox, the Flies, and the Hedgehog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A fox, old, subtle, vigilant, and sly,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">By hunters wounded, fallen in the mud,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Attracted by the traces of his blood,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That buzzing parasite, the fly.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He blamed the gods, and wonder'd why<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The Fates so cruelly should wish<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To feast the fly on such a costly dish.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"What! light on me! make me its food!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Me, me, the nimblest of the wood!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">How long has fox-meat been so good?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What serves my tail? Is it a useless weight?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Go,—Heaven confound thee, greedy reprobate!—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And suck thy fill from some more vulgar veins!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A hedgehog, witnessing his pains,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">(This fretful personage<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Here graces first my page,)<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Desired to set him free<br /></span>
<span class="i8">From such cupidity.<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"My neighbour fox," said he,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"My quills these rascals shall empale,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And ease thy torments without fail."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Not for the world, my friend!" the fox replied.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Pray let them finish their repast.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">These flies are full. Should they be set aside,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">New hungrier swarms would finish me at last."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Consumers are too common here below,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>In court and camp, in church and state, we know.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Aristotle's penetration</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Remark'd our fable's application;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>It might more clearly in our nation.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The fuller certain men are fed,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The less the public will be bled.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;">
<img src="images/i049.jpg" width="360" height="500" alt="THE FOX THE FLIES & THE HEDGEHOG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Eagle and the Magpie.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The eagle, through the air a queen,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And one far different, I ween,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In temper, language, thought, and mien,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The magpie,—once a prairie cross'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The by-path where they met was drear,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And Madge gave up herself for lost;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But having dined on ample cheer,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The eagle bade her, "Never fear;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">You're welcome to my company;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For if the king of gods can be<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Full oft in need of recreation,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who rules the world,—right well may I,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Who serve him in that high relation:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Amuse me, then, before you fly."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our cackler, pleased, at quickest rate<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of this and that began to prate.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No fool, or babbler for that matter,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could more incontinently chatter.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At last she offer'd to make known—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A better spy had never flown—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">All things, whatever she might see,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In travelling from tree to tree.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But, with her offer little pleased—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Nay, gathering wrath at being teased,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For such a purpose, never rove,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Replied th' impatient bird of Jove.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Adieu, my cackling friend, adieu;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">My court is not the place for you:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Heaven keep it free from such a bore!"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Madge flapp'd her wings, and said no more.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>'Tis far less easy than it seems</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>An entrance to the great to gain.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The honour oft hath cost extremes</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Of mortal pain.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The craft of spies, the tattling art,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And looks more gracious than the heart,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Are odious there;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>But still, if one would meet success,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Of different parishes the dress</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>He, like the pie, must wear.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i050.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE EAGLE AND THE MAGPIE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion and the Hunter.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A braggart, lover of the chase,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had lost a dog of valued race,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And thought him in a lion's maw.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He ask'd a shepherd whom he saw,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Pray show me, man, the robber's place,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And I'll have justice in the case."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"'Tis on this mountain side,"<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The shepherd man replied.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"The tribute of a sheep I pay,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each month, and where I please I stray."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Out leap'd the lion as he spake,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And came that way with agile feet.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The braggart, prompt his flight to take,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Cried, "Jove, O grant a safe retreat!"<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6"><i>A danger close at hand</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Of courage is the test.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>It shows us who will stand—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Whose legs will run their best.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i051.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE LION AND THE HUNTER." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Left kingless by the lion's death,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The beasts once met, our story saith,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Some fit successor to install.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Forth from a dragon-guarded, moated place,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The crown was brought, and, taken from its case,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And being tried by turns on all,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The heads of most were found too small;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Some hornèd were, and some too big;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Not one would fit the regal gear.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For ever ripe for such a rig,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The monkey, looking very queer,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Approach'd with antics and grimaces,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, after scores of monkey faces,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With what would seem a gracious stoop,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pass'd through the crown as through a hoop.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The beasts, diverted with the thing,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Did homage to him as their king.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The fox alone the vote regretted,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But yet in public never fretted.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When he his compliments had paid<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To royalty, thus newly made,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Great sire, I know a place," said he,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Where lies conceal'd a treasure,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which, by the right of royalty,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Should bide your royal pleasure."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The king lack'd not an appetite<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For such financial pelf,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, not to lose his royal right,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Ran straight to see it for himself.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It was a trap, and he was caught.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Said Renard, "Would you have it thought,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">You ape, that you can fill a throne,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And guard the rights of all, alone,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Not knowing how to guard your own?"<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>The beasts all gather'd from the farce,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>That stuff for kings is very scarce.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i052.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE FOX, THE MONKEY, and the ANIMALS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Sun and the Frogs.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The people drown'd their care in drink;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While from the general joy did Æsop shrink,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And show'd its folly in this way.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"The sun," said he, "once took it in his head<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To have a partner: so he wed.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Up rose the wailings of the frogs.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"What shall we do, should he have progeny?"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Said they to Destiny;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'One sun we scarcely can endure,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And half-a-dozen, we are sure,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Will dry the very sea.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Adieu to marsh and fen!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our race will perish then,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or be obliged to fix<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their dwelling in the Styx!'<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For such an humble animal,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The frog, I take it, reason'd well."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i053.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="THE SUN AND THE FROGS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Countryman and the Serpent.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A countryman, as Æsop certifies,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A charitable man, but not so wise,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One day in winter found,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Stretch'd on the snowy ground,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A chill'd or frozen snake,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As torpid as a stake,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, if alive, devoid of sense.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He took him up, and bore him home,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, thinking not what recompense<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For such a charity would come,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Before the fire stretch'd him,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And back to being fetch'd him.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The snake scarce felt the genial heat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Before his heart with native malice beat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He raised his head, thrust out his forkèd tongue,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Coil'd up, and at his benefactor sprung.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Ungrateful wretch!" said he, "is this the way<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My care and kindness you repay?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Now you shall die." With that his axe he takes,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And with two blows three serpents makes.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Trunk, head, and tail were separate snakes;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, leaping up with all their might,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They vainly sought to reunite.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>'Tis good and lovely to be kind;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>But charity should not be blind;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>For as to wretchedness ingrate,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>You cannot raise it from its wretched state.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i054.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SERPENT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Carter in the Mire.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6">The Phaëton who drove a load of hay<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Once found his cart bemired.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Poor man! the spot was far away<br /></span>
<span class="i8">From human help—retired,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In some rude country place,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In Brittany, as near as I can trace,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Near Quimper Corentan,—<br /></span>
<span class="i10">A town that poet never sang,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which Fate, they say, puts in the traveller's path,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When she would rouse the man to special wrath.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">May Heaven preserve us from that route!<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But to our carter, hale and stout:—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Fast stuck his cart; he swore his worst,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">And, fill'd with rage extreme,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The mud-holes now he cursed,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">And now he cursed his team,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And now his cart and load,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Anon, the like upon himself bestow'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Upon the god he call'd at length,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Most famous through the world for strength.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"O, help me, Hercules!" cried he; "for if thy back of yore<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This burly planet bore, thy arm can set me free."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This prayer gone up, from out a cloud there broke<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A voice which thus in godlike accents spoke:—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"The suppliant must himself bestir,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Ere Hercules will aid confer.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Look wisely in the proper quarter,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">To see what hindrance can be found;<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Remove the execrable mud and mortar,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which, axle-deep, beset thy wheels around.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Thy sledge and crowbar take,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And pry me up that stone, or break;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Now fill that rut upon the other side.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Hast done it?" "Yes," the man replied.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Well," said the voice, "I'll aid thee now;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Take up thy whip." "I have ... but, how?<br /></span>
<span class="i10">My cart glides on with ease!<br /></span>
<span class="i12">I thank thee, Hercules."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Thy team," rejoin'd the voice, "has light ado;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So help thyself, and Heaven will help thee too."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i055.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE CARTER IN THE MIRE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Heron.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i6">One day,—no matter when or where,—<br /></span>
<span class="i8">A long-legg'd heron chanced to fare<br /></span>
<span class="i6">By a certain river's brink,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">With his long, sharp beak<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Helved on his slender neck;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">'Twas a fish-spear, you might think.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The water was clear and still,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The carp and the pike there at will<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Pursued their silent fun,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Turning up, ever and anon,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A golden side to the sun.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With ease might the heron have made<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Great profits in his fishing trade.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So near came the scaly fry,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They might be caught by the passer-by.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But he thought he better might<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Wait for a better appetite—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For he lived by rule, and could not eat,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Except at his hours, the best of meat.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Anon his appetite return'd once more;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So, approaching again the shore,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He saw some tench taking their leaps,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Now and then, from their lowest deeps.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With as dainty a taste as Horace's rat,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He turn'd away from such food as that.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"What, tench for a heron! poh!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I scorn the thought, and let them go."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The tench refused, there came a gudgeon;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"For all that," said the bird, "I budge on.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I'll ne'er open my beak, if the gods please,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For such mean little fishes as these."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He did it for less; | For it came to pass,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That not another fish could he see;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, at last, so hungry was he,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That he thought it of some avail<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To find on the bank a single snail.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Such is the sure result</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Of being too difficult.</i><br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Would you be strong and great</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Learn to accommodate.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i056.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE HERON." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Head and the Tail of the Serpent.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two parts the serpent has—<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Of men the enemies—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The head and tail: the same<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Have won a mighty fame,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Next to the cruel Fates;—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So that, indeed, hence<br /></span>
<span class="i8">They once had great debates<br /></span>
<span class="i6">About precedence.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The first had always gone ahead;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The tail had been for ever led;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And now to Heaven it pray'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">And said,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"O, many and many a league,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Dragg'd on in sore fatigue,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Behind his back I go.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Shall he for ever use me so?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Am I his humble servant?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No. Thanks to God most fervent!<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His brother I was born,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And not his slave forlorn.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The self-same blood in both,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I'm just as good as he:<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A poison dwells in me<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As virulent as doth<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In him. In mercy, heed,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And grant me this decree,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That I, in turn, may lead—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">My brother, follow me.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My course shall be so wise,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That no complaint shall rise."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With cruel kindness Heaven granted<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The very thing he blindly wanted:<br /></span>
<span class="i8">At once this novel guide,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That saw no more in broad daylight<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Than in the murk of darkest night,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">His powers of leading tried,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Struck trees, and men, and stones, and bricks,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And led his brother straight to Styx.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And to the same unlovely home,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Some states by such an error come.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 345px;">
<img src="images/i057.jpg" width="345" height="500" alt="THE HEAD & THE TAIL OF THE SERPENT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Dog And His Master's Dinner.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Our eyes are not made proof against the fair,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Nor hands against the touch of gold.<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Fidelity is sadly rare,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And has been from the days of old.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Well taught his appetite to check,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And do full many a handy trick,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A dog was trotting, light and quick,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His master's dinner on his neck.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A temperate, self-denying dog was he,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">More than, with such a load, he liked to be.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But still he was, while many such as we<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Would not have scrupled to make free.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Strange that to dogs a virtue you may teach,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which, do your best, to men you vainly preach!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This dog of ours, thus richly fitted out,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A mastiff met, who wish'd the meat, no doubt.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To get it was less easy than he thought:<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The porter laid it down and fought.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Meantime some other dogs arrive:<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Such dogs are always thick enough,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And, fearing neither kick nor cuff,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Upon the public thrive.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Our hero, thus o'ermatch'd and press'd,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The meat in danger manifest,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Is fain to share it with the rest;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And, looking very calm and wise,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"No anger, gentlemen," he cries:<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"My morsel will myself suffice;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The rest shall be your welcome prize."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">With this, the first his charge to violate,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">He snaps a mouthful from his freight.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Then follow mastiff, cur, and pup,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Till all is cleanly eaten up.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Not sparingly the party feasted,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And not a dog of all but tasted.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i12"><i>In some such manner men abuse</i><br /></span>
<span class="i12"><i>Of towns and states the revenues.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i12"><i>The sheriffs, aldermen, and mayor,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i12"><i>Come in for each a liberal share.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i058.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE DOG AND HIS MASTER'S DINNER." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Joker and the Fishes.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A joker at a banker's table,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Most amply spread to satisfy<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The height of epicurean wishes,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had nothing near but little fishes.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So, taking several of the fry,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He whisper'd to them very nigh,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And seem'd to listen for reply.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The guests much wonder'd what it meant,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And stared upon him all intent.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The joker, then, with sober face,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Politely thus explain'd the case:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"A friend of mine, to India bound,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Has been, I fear,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Within a year,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By rocks or tempests wreck'd and drown'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I ask'd these strangers from the sea<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To tell me where my friend might be.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But all replied they were too young<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To know the least of such a matter—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The older fish could tell me better.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Pray, may I hear some older tongue?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What relish had the gentlefolks<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For such a sample of his jokes,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is more than I can now relate.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They put, I'm sure, upon his plate,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A monster of so old a date,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He must have known the names and fate<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of all the daring voyagers,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Who, following the moon and stars,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Have, by mischances, sunk their bones<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Within the realms of Davy Jones;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And who, for centuries, had seen,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Far down, within the fathomless,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Where whales themselves are sceptreless,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The ancients in their halls of green.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i059.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="THE JOKER and THE FISHES." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Rat and the Oyster.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A country rat, of little brains,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Grown weary of inglorious rest,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Left home with all its straws and grains,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Resolved to know beyond his nest.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">When peeping through the nearest fence,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"How big the world is, how immense!"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He cried; "there rise the Alps, and that<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Is doubtless famous Ararat."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His mountains were the works of moles,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or dirt thrown up in digging holes!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Some days of travel brought him where<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The tide had left the oysters bare.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Since here our traveller saw the sea,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He thought these shells the ships must be.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"My father was, in truth," said he,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"A coward, and an ignoramus;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He dared not travel: as for me,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I've seen the ships and ocean famous;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Have cross'd the deserts without drinking,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And many dangerous streams unshrinking."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Among the shut-up shell-fish, one<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was gaping widely at the sun;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">It breathed, and drank the air's perfume,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Expanding, like a flower in bloom.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Both white and fat, its meat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Appear'd a dainty treat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our rat, when he this shell espied,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thought for his stomach to provide.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"If not mistaken in the matter,"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Said he, "no meat was ever fatter,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or in its flavour half so fine,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As that on which to-day I dine."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thus full of hope, the foolish chap<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thrust in his head to taste,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And felt the pinching of a trap—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The oyster closed in haste.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Now those to whom the world is new</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Are wonder-struck at every view;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>And the marauder finds his match,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>When he is caught who thinks to catch.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i060.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE RAT AND THE OYSTER." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Hog, the Goat, and the Sheep.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A goat, a sheep, and porker fat,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">All to the market rode together.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their own amusement was not that<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which caused their journey thither.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their coachman did not mean to "set them down"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To see the shows and wonders of the town.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The porker cried, in piercing squeals,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As if with butchers at his heels.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The other beasts, of milder mood,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The cause by no means understood.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They saw no harm, and wonder'd why<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At such a rate the hog should cry.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Hush there, old piggy!" said the man,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"And keep as quiet as you can.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What wrong have you to squeal about,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And raise this dev'lish, deaf'ning shout?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">These stiller persons at your side<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Have manners much more dignified.<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Pray, have you heard<br /></span>
<span class="i10">A single word<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Come from that gentleman in wool?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That proves him wise." "That proves him fool!"<br /></span>
<span class="i8">The testy hog replied;<br /></span>
<span class="i10">"For did he know<br /></span>
<span class="i10">To what we go,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He'd cry almost to split his throat;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So would her ladyship the goat.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They only think to lose with ease,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The goat her milk, the sheep his fleece:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">They're, maybe, right; but as for me<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This ride is quite another matter.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of service only on the platter,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My death is quite a certainty.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Adieu, my dear old piggery!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The porker's logic proved at once<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Himself a prophet and a dunce.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Hope ever gives a present ease,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>But fear beforehand kills:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The wisest he who least foresees</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Inevitable ills.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i061.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE HOG THE GOAT and the SHEEP." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Rat and the Elephant.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A rat, of quite the smallest size,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Fix'd on an elephant his eyes,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And jeer'd the beast of high descent<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Because his feet so slowly went.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upon his back, three stories high,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">There sat, beneath a canopy,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A certain sultan of renown,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His dog, and cat, and wife sublime,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His parrot, servant, and his wine,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All pilgrims to a distant town.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The rat profess'd to be amazed<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That all the people stood and gazed<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With wonder, as he pass'd the road,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Both at the creature and his load.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"As if," said he, "to occupy<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A little more of land or sky<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Made one, in view of common sense,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of greater worth and consequence!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What see ye, men, in this parade,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That food for wonder need be made?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bulk which makes a child afraid?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In truth, I take myself to be,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In all aspects, as good as he."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And further might have gone his vaunt;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But, darting down, the cat<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Convinced him that a rat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is smaller than an elephant.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i062.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE RAT AND THE ELEPHANT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass and the Dog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Along the road an ass and dog<br /></span>
<span class="i6">One master following, did jog.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their master slept: meanwhile, the ass<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Applied his nippers to the grass,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Much pleased in such a place to stop,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Though there no thistle he could crop.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He would not be too delicate,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Nor spoil a dinner for a plate,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which, but for that, his favourite dish,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Were all that any ass could wish.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My dear companion," Towser said,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"'Tis as a starving dog I ask it,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pray lower down your loaded basket,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And let me get a piece of bread."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No answer—not a word!—indeed,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The truth was, our Arcadian steed<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Fear'd lest, for every moment's flight,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His nimble teeth should lose a bite.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At last, "I counsel you," said he, "to wait<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Till master is himself awake,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Who then, unless I much mistake,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Will give his dog the usual bait."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Meanwhile, there issued from the wood<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A creature of the wolfish brood,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Himself by famine sorely pinch'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At sight of him the donkey flinch'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And begg'd the dog to give him aid.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The dog budged not, but answer made,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"I counsel thee, my friend, to run,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till master's nap is fairly done;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">There can, indeed, be no mistake,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That he will very soon awake;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till then, scud off with all your might;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And should he snap you in your flight,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This ugly wolf,—why, let him feel<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The greeting of your well-shod heel.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I do not doubt, at all, but that<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Will be enough to lay him flat."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But ere he ceased it was too late;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The ass had met his cruel fate.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i063.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE ASS AND THE DOG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
<h2>Education.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Lapluck and Cæsar brothers were, descended<br /></span>
<span class="i6">From dogs by Fame the most commended,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Who falling, in their puppyhood,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To different masters anciently,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One dwelt and hunted in the boundless wood;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From thieves the other kept a kitchen free.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At first, each had another name;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But, by their bringing up, it came,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">While one improved upon his nature,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The other grew a sordid creature,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Till, by some scullion called Lapluck,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The name ungracious ever stuck.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To high exploits his brother grew,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Put many a stag at bay, and tore<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Full many a trophy from the boar;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In short, him first, of all his crew,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">The world as Cæsar knew;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And care was had, lest, by a baser mate,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His noble blood should e'er degenerate.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Not so with him of lower station,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whose race became a countless nation—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The common turnspits throughout France—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Where danger is, they don't advance—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Precisely the Antipodes<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of what we call the Cæsars, these!<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Oft falls the son below his sire's estate:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Through want of care all things degenerate.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>For lack of nursing Nature and her gifts,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>What crowds from gods become mere kitchen-thrifts!</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i064.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="EDUCATION." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two lean and hungry mastiffs once espied<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A dead ass floating on a water wide.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The distance growing more and more,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Because the wind the carcass bore,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My friend," said one, "your eyes are best;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Pray let them on the water rest:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What thing is that I seem to see?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An ox, or horse? what can it be?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Hey!" cried his mate; "what matter which,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Provided we could get a flitch?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It doubtless is our lawful prey:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The puzzle is to find some way<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To get the prize; for wide the space<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To swim, with wind against your face.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Let's drink the flood; our thirsty throats<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Will gain the end as well as boats.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The water swallow'd, by and by<br /></span>
<span class="i2">We'll have the carcass, high and dry—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Enough to last a week, at least."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Both drank as some do at a feast;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their breath was quench'd before their thirst,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And presently the creatures burst!<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>And such is man. Whatever he</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>May set his soul to do or be,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>To him is possibility.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>How many vows he makes!</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>How many steps he takes!</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>How does he strive, and pant, and strain,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Fortune's or Glory's prize to gain!</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i065.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE TWO DOGS and the dead ASS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Monkey and the Leopard.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A monkey and a leopard were<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The rivals at a country fair.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Each advertised his own attractions.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Said one, "Good sirs, the highest place<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My merit knows; for, of his grace,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The king hath seen me face to face;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, judging by his looks and actions,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I gave the best of satisfactions.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When I am dead, 'tis plain enough,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My skin will make his royal muff.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So richly is it streak'd and spotted,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So delicately waved and dotted,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Its various beauty cannot fail to please."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, thus invited, everybody sees;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But soon they see, and soon depart.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The monkey's show-bill to the mart<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His merits thus sets forth the while,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All in his own peculiar style:—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Come, gentlemen, I pray you, come;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In magic arts I am at home.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The whole variety in which<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My neighbour boasts himself so rich,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is to his simple skin confined,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">While mine is living in the mind.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For I can speak, you understand;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Can dance, and practise sleight-of-hand;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Can jump through hoops, and balance sticks;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In short, can do a thousand tricks;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One penny is my charge to you,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, if you think the price won't do,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When you have seen, then I'll restore<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Each man his money at the door."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>The ape was not to reason blind;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>For who in wealth of dress can find</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Such charms as dwell in wealth of mind?</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>One meets our ever-new desires,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>The other in a moment tires.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Alas! how many lords there are,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Of mighty sway and lofty mien,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Who, like this leopard at the fair,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Show all their talents on the skin!</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i066.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE MONKEY AND THE LEOPARD." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Acorn and the Pumpkin.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">God's works are good. This truth to prove<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Around the world I need not move;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I do it by the nearest pumpkin.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"This fruit so large, on vine so small,"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Surveying once, exclaim'd a bumpkin—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"What could He mean who made us all?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He's left this pumpkin out of place.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">If I had order'd in the case,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upon that oak it should have hung—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A noble fruit as ever swung<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To grace a tree so firm and strong.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Indeed, it was a great mistake,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">As this discovery teaches,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That I myself did not partake<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His counsels whom my curate preaches.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All things had then in order come;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This acorn, for example,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Not bigger than my thumb,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Had not disgraced a tree so ample.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The more I think, the more I wonder<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To see outraged proportion's laws,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And that without the slightest cause;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">God surely made an awkward blunder."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With such reflections proudly fraught,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Our sage grew tired of mighty thought,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And threw himself on Nature's lap,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Beneath an oak, to take his nap.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Plump on his nose, by lucky hap,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An acorn fell: he waked, and in<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The scarf he wore beneath his chin,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He found the cause of such a bruise<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As made him different language use.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"O! O!" he cried; "I bleed! I bleed!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And this is what has done the deed!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, truly, what had been my fate,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Had this had half a pumpkin's weight!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I see that God had reasons good,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And all His works were understood."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thus home he went in humbler mood.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i067.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE ACORN and the PUMPKIN." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Fool who Sold Wisdom.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A fool, in town, did wisdom cry;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The people, eager, flock'd to buy.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Each for his money got,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Paid promptly on the spot,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Besides a box upon the head,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Two fathoms' length of thread.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The most were vex'd—but quite in vain,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The public only mock'd their pain.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The wiser they who nothing said,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But pocketed the box and thread.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To search the meaning of the thing<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Would only laughs and hisses bring.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Hath reason ever guaranteed<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The wit of fools in speech or deed?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Tis said of brainless heads in France,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The cause of what they do is chance.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One dupe, however, needs must know<br /></span>
<span class="i0">What meant the thread, and what the blow<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So ask'd a sage, to make it sure.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"They're both hieroglyphics pure,"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The sage replied without delay;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"All people well advised will stay<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From fools this fibre's length away,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or get—I hold it sure as fate—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The other symbol on the pate.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So far from cheating you of gold,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fool this wisdom fairly sold."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i068.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE FOOL WHO SOLD WISDOM." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Oyster and the Litigants.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">Two pilgrims on the sand espied<br /></span>
<span class="i8">An oyster thrown up by the tide.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In hope, both swallow'd ocean's fruit;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But ere the fact there came dispute.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">While one stoop'd down to take the prey,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The other push'd him quite away.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Said he, "'Twere rather meet<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To settle which shall eat.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Why, he who first the oyster saw<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Should be its eater by the law;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The other should but see him do it."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Replied his mate, "If thus you view it,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Thank God the lucky eye is mine."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"But I've an eye not worse than thine,"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The other cried, "and will be cursed,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">If, too, I didn't see it first."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"You saw it, did you? Grant it true,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I saw it then, and felt it too."<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Amidst this sweet affair,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Arrived a person very big,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Ycleped Sir Nincom Periwig.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They made him judge,—to set the matter square.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Sir Nincom, with a solemn face,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Took up the oyster and the case:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In opening both, the first he swallow'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, in due time, his judgment follow'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Attend: the court awards you each a shell<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Cost free; depart in peace, and use them well."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Foot up the cost of suits at law,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The leavings reckon and awards,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>The cash you'll see Sir Nincom draw,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>And leave the parties—purse and cards.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px;">
<img src="images/i069.jpg" width="359" height="500" alt="THE OYSTER AND THE LITIGANTS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wolf and the Lean Dog.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">A Troutling, some time since,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Endeavour'd vainly to convince<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A hungry fisherman<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of his unfitness for the frying-pan.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The fisherman had reason good—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The troutling did the best he could—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Both argued for their lives.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Now, if my present purpose thrives,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I'll prop my former proposition<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By building on a small addition.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A certain wolf, in point of wit<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The prudent fisher's opposite,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A dog once finding far astray,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Prepared to take him as his prey.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The dog his leanness pled;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Your lordship, sure," he said,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Cannot be very eager<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To eat a dog so meagre.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To wait a little do not grudge:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The wedding of my master's only daughter<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Will cause of fatted calves and fowls a slaughter;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And then, as you yourself can judge,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I cannot help becoming fatter."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The wolf, believing, waived the matter,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And so, some days therefrom,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Return'd with sole design to see<br /></span>
<span class="i6">If fat enough his dog might be.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The rogue was now at home:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He saw the hunter through the fence.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"My friend," said he, "please wait;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I'll be with you a moment hence,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And fetch our porter of the gate."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This porter was a dog immense,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That left to wolves no future tense.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Suspicion gave our wolf a jog,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">It might not be so safely tamper'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"My service to your porter dog,"<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Was his reply, as off he scamper'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">His legs proved better than his head,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And saved him life to learn his trade.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i070.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE WOLF AND THE LEAN DOG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
<h2>Nothing too Much.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Look where we will throughout creation,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">We look in vain for moderation.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The grain, best gift of Ceres fair,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Green waving in the genial air,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By overgrowth exhausts the soil;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By superfluity of leaves<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Defrauds the treasure of its sheaves,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And mocks the busy farmer's toil.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not less redundant is the tree,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So sweet a thing is luxury.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The grain within due bounds to keep,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their Maker licenses the sheep<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The leaves excessive to retrench.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In troops they spread across the plain,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, nibbling down the hapless grain,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Contrive to spoil it, root and branch.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So, then, with licence from on high,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The wolves are sent on sheep to prey;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The whole the greedy gluttons slay;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Or, if they don't, they try.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Next, men are sent on wolves to take<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The vengeance now condign:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In turn the same abuse they make<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of this behest divine.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Of animals, the human kind<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Are to excess the most inclined.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On low and high we make the charge,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Indeed, upon the race at large.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">There liveth not the soul select<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That sinneth not in this respect.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of "Nought too much," the fact is,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">All preach the truth,—none practise.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
<img src="images/i071.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="NOTHING TOO MUCH." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Cat and the Fox.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The cat and fox, when saints were all the rage<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Together went upon pilgrimage.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our pilgrims, as a thing of course,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Disputed till their throats were hoarse.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Then, dropping to a lower tone,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They talk'd of this, and talk'd of that,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till Renard whisper'd to the cat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"You think yourself a knowing one:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">How many cunning tricks have you?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For I've a hundred, old and new,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">All ready in my haversack."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The cat replied, "I do not lack,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Though with but one provided;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And, truth to honour, for that matter,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I hold it than a thousand better."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In fresh dispute they sided;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And loudly were they at it, when<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Approach'd a mob of dogs and men.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Now," said the cat, "your tricks ransack,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And put your cunning brains to rack,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One life to save; I'll show you mine—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A trick, you see, for saving nine."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With that, she climb'd a lofty pine.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fox his hundred ruses tried,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And yet no safety found.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A hundred times he falsified<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The nose of every hound.—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was here, and there, and everywhere,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Above, and under ground;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But yet to stop he did not dare,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pent in a hole, it was no joke,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To meet the terriers or the smoke.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So, leaping into upper air,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He met two dogs, that choked him there.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Expedients may be too many,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Consuming time to choose and try.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>On one, but that as good as any,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>'Tis best in danger to rely.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
<img src="images/i072.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="THE CAT AND THE FOX." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Monkey and the Cat.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Sly Bertrand and Ratto in company sat,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">(The one was a monkey, the other a cat,)<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Co-servants and lodgers:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">More mischievous codgers<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Ne'er mess'd from a platter, since platters were flat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was anything wrong in the house or about it,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The neighbours were blameless,—no mortal could doubt it;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For Bertrand was thievish, and Ratto so nice,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">More attentive to cheese than he was to the mice.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One day the two plunderers sat by the fire,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Where chestnuts were roasting, with looks of desire.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To steal them would be a right noble affair.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A double inducement our heroes drew there—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Twould benefit them, could they swallow their fill,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And then 'twould occasion to somebody ill.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Said Bertrand to Ratto, "My brother, to-day<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Exhibit your powers in a masterly way,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And take me these chestnuts, I pray.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which were I but otherwise fitted<br /></span>
<span class="i4">(As I am ingeniously witted)<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For pulling things out of the flame,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Would stand but a pitiful game."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"'Tis done," replied Ratto, all prompt to obey;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And thrust out his paw in a delicate way.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">First giving the ashes a scratch,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He open'd the coveted batch;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Then lightly and quickly impinging,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He drew out, in spite of the singeing,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">One after another, the chestnuts at last,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While Bertrand contrived to devour them as fast.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A servant girl enters. Adieu to the fun.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our Ratto was hardly contented, says one.—<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>No more are the princes, by flattery paid</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>For furnishing help in a different trade,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>And burning their fingers to bring</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>More power to some mightier king.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i073.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE MONKEY AND THE CAT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Spider and the Swallow.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">"O Jupiter, whose fruitful brain,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">By odd obstetrics freed from pain,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Bore Pallas, erst my mortal foe,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Pray listen to my tale of woe.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This Progne takes my lawful prey.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As through the air she cuts her way,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My flies she catches from my door,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Yes, <i>mine</i>—I emphasize the word,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, but for this accursed bird,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My net would hold an ample store:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For I have woven it of stuff<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To hold the strongest strong enough."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">'Twas thus, in terms of insolence,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Complain'd the fretful spider, once<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Of palace-tapestry a weaver,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But then a spinster and deceiver,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That hoped within her toils to bring<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of insects all that ply the wing.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The sister swift of Philomel,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Intent on business, prosper'd well;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In spite of the complaining pest,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The insects carried to her nest—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Nest pitiless to suffering flies—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Mouths gaping aye, to gormandize,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Of young ones clamouring,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">And stammering,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With unintelligible cries.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The spider, with but head and feet,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And powerless to compete<br /></span>
<span class="i6">With wings so fleet,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Soon saw herself a prey.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The swallow, passing swiftly by,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Bore web and all away,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The spinster dangling in the sky!<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Two tables hath our Maker set</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>For all that in this world are met.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To seats around the first</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>The skilful, vigilant, and strong are beckon'd:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Their hunger and their thirst</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>The rest must quell with leavings at the second.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i074.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE SPIDER AND THE SWALLOW." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Dog whose Ears were Cropped.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">"What have I done, I'd like to know,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">To make my master maim me so?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A pretty figure I shall cut!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From other dogs I'll keep, in kennel shut.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Ye kings of beasts, or rather tyrants, ho!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Would any beast have served you so?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thus Growler cried, a mastiff young;—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The man, whom pity never stung,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Went on to prune him of his ears.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Though Growler whined about his losses,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He found, before the lapse of years,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Himself a gainer by the process;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For, being by his nature prone<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To fight his brethren for a bone,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He'd oft come back from sad reverse<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With those appendages the worse.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">All snarling dogs have ragged ears.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The less of hold for teeth of foe,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The better will the battle go.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">When, in a certain place, one fears<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The chance of being hurt or beat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He fortifies it from defeat.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Besides the shortness of his ears,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">See Growler arm'd against his likes<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With gorget full of ugly spikes.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A wolf would find it quite a puzzle<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To get a hold about his muzzle.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i075.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE DOG WHOSE EARS WERE CROPPED." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lioness and the Bear.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The lioness had lost her young;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A hunter stole it from the vale;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The forests and the mountains rung<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Responsive to her hideous wail.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Nor night, nor charms of sweet repose,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could still the loud lament that rose<br /></span>
<span class="i6">From that grim forest queen.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">No animal, as you might think,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With such a noise could sleep a wink.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A bear presumed to intervene.<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"One word, sweet friend," quoth she,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"And that is all, from me.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The young that through your teeth have pass'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In file unbroken by a fast,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Had they nor dam nor sire?"<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"They had them both." "Then I desire,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Since all their deaths caused no such grievous riot,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While mothers died of grief beneath your fiat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To know why you yourself cannot be quiet?"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"I quiet!—I!—a wretch bereaved!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">My only son!—such anguish be relieved!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">No, never! All for me below<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Is but a life of tears and woe!"—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"But say, why doom yourself to sorrow so?"—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Alas! 'tis Destiny that is my foe."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Such language, since the mortal fall,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Has fallen from the lips of all.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Ye human wretches, give your heed;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>For your complaints there's little need.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Let him who thinks his own the hardest case,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Some widowed, childless Hecuba behold,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Herself to toil and shame of slavery sold,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>And he will own the wealth of heavenly grace.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 315px;">
<img src="images/i076.jpg" width="315" height="448" alt="THE LIONESS AND THE BEAR." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Mice and the Owl.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A pine was by a woodman fell'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Which ancient, huge, and hollow tree<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An owl had for his palace held—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A bird the Fates had kept in fee,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Interpreter to such as we.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Within the caverns of the pine,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With other tenants of that mine,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Were found full many footless mice,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But well provision'd, fat, and nice.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bird had bit off all their feet,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And fed them there with heaps of wheat.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That this owl reason'd, who can doubt?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">When to the chase he first went out,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And home alive the vermin brought,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which in his talons he had caught,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The nimble creatures ran away.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Next time, resolved to make them stay,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He cropp'd their legs, and found, with pleasure,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That he could eat them at his leisure;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It were impossible to eat<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Them all at once, did health permit.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His foresight, equal to our own,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In furnishing their food was shown.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Now, let Cartesians, if they can,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Pronounce this owl a mere machine.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could springs originate the plan<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of maiming mice when taken lean,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To fatten for his soup-tureen?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">If reason did no service there,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I do not know it anywhere.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Observe the course of argument:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">These vermin are no sooner caught than gone:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They must be used as soon, 'tis evident;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But this to all cannot be done.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Hence, while their ribs I lard,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I must from their elopement guard.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But how?—A plan complete!—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I'll clip them of their feet!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Now, find me, in your human schools,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A better use of logic's tools!<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i077.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE MICE AND THE OWL." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Cat and the Two Sparrows.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">Contemporary with a sparrow tame<br /></span>
<span class="i10">There lived a cat; from tenderest age,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of both, the basket and the cage<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had household gods the same.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The bird's sharp beak full oft provoked the cat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who play'd in turn, but with a gentle pat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His wee friend sparing with a merry laugh,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not punishing his faults by half.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In short, he scrupled much the harm,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Should he with points his ferule arm.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The Sparrow, less discreet than he,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With dagger beak made very free.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sir Cat, a person wise and staid,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Excused the warmth with which he play'd:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For 'tis full half of friendship's art<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To take no joke in serious part.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Familiar since they saw the light,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Mere habit kept their friendship good;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Fair play had never turn'd to fight,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Till, of their neighbourhood,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Another sparrow came to greet<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Old Ratto grave and Saucy Pete.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Between the birds a quarrel rose,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And Ratto took his side.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"A pretty stranger, with such blows<br /></span>
<span class="i6">To beat our friend!" he cried.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"A neighbour's sparrow eating ours!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Not so, by all the feline powers."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And quick the stranger he devours.<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Now, truly," saith Sir Cat,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"I know how sparrows taste by that.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Exquisite, tender, delicate!"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">This thought soon seal'd the other's fate.—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But hence what moral can I bring?<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For, lacking that important thing,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A fable lacks its finishing:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I seem to see of one some trace,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But still its shadow mocks my chase.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i078.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE CAT and the two sparrows." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Two Goats.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two goats, who self-emancipated,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The white that on their feet they wore<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Look'd back to noble blood of yore,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Once quit the lowly meadows, sated,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And sought the hills, as it would seem:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In search of luck, by luck they met<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each other at a mountain stream.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As bridge a narrow plank was set,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On which, if truth must be confest,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Two weasels scarce could go abreast.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And then the torrent, foaming white,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As down it tumbled from the height,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Might well those Amazons affright.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But maugre such a fearful rapid,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Both took the bridge, the goats intrepid!<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I seem to see our Louis Grand<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And Philip IV. advance<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To the Isle of Conference,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That lies 'twixt Spain and France,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Each sturdy for his glorious land.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thus each of our adventurers goes,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Till foot to foot, and nose to nose,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Somewhere about the midst they meet,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And neither will an inch retreat.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For why? they both enjoy'd the glory<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of ancestors in ancient story.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The one, a goat of peerless rank,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which, browsing on Sicilian bank,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The Cyclop gave to Galatæa;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The other famous Amalthæa,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The goat that suckled Jupiter,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As some historians aver.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For want of giving back, in troth,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A common fall involved them both.—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A common accident, no doubt,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">On Fortune's changeful route.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i079.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE TWO GOATS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Old Cat and the Young Mouse.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A young and inexperienced mouse<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Had faith to try a veteran cat,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Raminagrobis, death to rat,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And scourge of vermin through the house,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Appealing to his clemency<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With reasons sound and fair.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Pray let me live; a mouse like me<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It were not much to spare.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Am I, in such a family,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A burden? Would my largest wish<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Our wealthy host impoverish?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A grain of wheat will make my meal;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A nut will fat me like a seal.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I'm lean at present; please to wait,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And for your heirs reserve my fate."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The captive mouse thus spake.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Replied the captor, "You mistake;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To me shall such a thing be said?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Address the deaf! address the dead!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A cat to pardon!—old one too!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Why, such a thing I never knew.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Thou victim of my paw,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By well-establish'd law,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Die as a mousling should,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And beg the sisterhood<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Who ply the thread and shears,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To lend thy speech their ears.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Some other like repast<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My heirs may find, or fast."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">He ceased. The moral's plain.<br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Youth always hopes its ends to gain,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Believes all spirits like its own:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Old age is not to mercy prone.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i080.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE OLD CAT AND THE YOUNG MOUSE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Sick Stag</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A stag, where stags abounded,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Fell sick and was surrounded<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forthwith by comrades kind,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">All pressing to assist,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or see, their friend, at least,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And ease his anxious mind—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">An irksome multitude.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Ah, sirs!" the sick was fain to cry,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Pray leave me here to die,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As others do, in solitude.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pray, let your kind attentions cease,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till death my spirit shall release."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But comforters are not so sent:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On duty sad full long intent,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">When Heaven pleased, they went:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But not without a friendly glass;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That is to say, they cropp'd the grass<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And leaves which in that quarter grew,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From which the sick his pittance drew.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By kindness thus compell'd to fast,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He died for want of food at last.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>The men take off no trifling dole</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Who heal the body, or the soul.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Alas the times! do what we will,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>They have their payment, cure or kill.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
<img src="images/i081.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="THE SICK STAG." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Quarrel of the Dogs and Cats.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">In mansion deck'd with frieze and column,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">Dwelt dogs and cats in multitudes;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Decrees, promulged in manner solemn,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had pacified their ancient feuds.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their lord had so arranged their meals and labours,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And threaten'd quarrels with the whip,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That, living in sweet cousinship,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They edified their wondering neighbours.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At last, some dainty plate to lick,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or profitable bone to pick,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Bestow'd by some partiality,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Broke up the smooth equality.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The side neglected were indignant<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At such a slight malignant.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">From words to blows the altercation<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Soon grew a perfect conflagration.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In hall and kitchen, dog and cat<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Took sides with zeal for this or that.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">New rules upon the cat side falling<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Produced tremendous caterwauling.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their advocate, against such rules as these,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Advised recurrence to the old decrees.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They search'd in vain, for, hidden in a nook,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The thievish mice had eaten up the book.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Another quarrel, in a trice,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Made many sufferers with the mice;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For many a veteran whisker'd-face,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With craft and cunning richly stored,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And grudges old against the race,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Now watch'd to put them to the sword;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Nor mourn'd for this that mansion's lord.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>Look wheresoever we will, we see</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>No creature from opponents free.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>'Tis nature's law for earth and sky;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>'Twere vain to ask the reason why:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>God's works are good,—I cannot doubt it,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>And that is all I know about it.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i082.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE QUARREL OF THE DOGS AND CATS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wolf and the Fox.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">"Dear wolf," complain'd a hungry fox,<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"A lean chick's meat, or veteran cock's,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is all I get by toil or trick:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of such a living I am sick.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">With far less risk, you've better cheer;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A house you need not venture near,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But I must do it, spite of fear.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Pray, make me master of your trade.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And let me by that means be made<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The first of all my race that took<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Fat mutton to his larder's hook:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Your kindness shall not be repented."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The wolf quite readily consented.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I have a brother, lately dead:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Go fit his skin to yours," he said.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Twas done; and then the wolf proceeded:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Now mark you well what must be done,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The dogs that guard the flock to shun."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fox the lessons strictly heeded.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At first he boggled in his dress;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But awkwardness grew less and less,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Till perseverance gave success.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His education scarce complete,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A flock, his scholarship to greet,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Came rambling out that way.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The new-made wolf his work began,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Amidst the heedless nibblers ran,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And spread a sore dismay.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bleating host now surely thought<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That fifty wolves were on the spot:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Dog, shepherd, sheep, all homeward fled,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And left a single sheep in pawn,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which Renard seized when they were gone.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But, ere upon his prize he fed,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">There crow'd a cock near by, and down<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The scholar threw his prey and gown,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That he might run that way the faster—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Forgetting lessons, prize and master.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>Reality, in every station,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Will burst out on the first occasion.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i083.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE WOLF AND THE FOX." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lobster and her Daughter.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The wise, sometimes, as lobsters do,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To gain their ends back foremost go.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">It is the rower's art; and those<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Commanders who mislead their foes,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Do often seem to aim their sight<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Just where they don't intend to smite.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">My theme, so low, may yet apply<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To one whose fame is very high,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Who finds it not the hardest matter<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A hundred-headed league to scatter.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What he will do, what leave undone,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Are secrets with unbroken seals,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Till victory the truth reveals.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Whatever he would have unknown<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is sought in vain. Decrees of Fate<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Forbid to check, at first, the course<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which sweeps at last the torrent force.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One Jove, as ancient fables state,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Exceeds a hundred gods in weight.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So Fate and Louis would seem able<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The universe to draw,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Bound captive to their law.—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But come we to our fable.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A mother lobster did her daughter chide:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"For shame, my daughter! can't you go ahead?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"And how go you yourself?" the child replied;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Can I be but by your example led?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Head foremost should I, singularly, wend,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">While all my race pursue the other end."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">She spoke with sense: for better or for worse,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Example has a universal force.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To some it opens wisdom's door,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But leads to folly many more.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Yet, as for backing to one's aim,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">When properly pursued<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The art is doubtless good,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At least in grim Bellona's game.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i084.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE LOBSTER AND HER DAUGHTER." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ploughman and his Sons.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>The farmer's patient care and toil</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Are oftener wanting than the soil.</i><br /></span>
</div></div>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A wealthy ploughman drawing near his end,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Call'd in his sons apart from every friend,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And said, "When of your sire bereft,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The heritage our fathers left<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Guard well, nor sell a single field.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A treasure in it is conceal'd:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The place, precisely, I don't know,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But industry will serve to show.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The harvest past, Time's forelock take,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And search with plough, and spade, and rake;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Turn over every inch of sod,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Nor leave unsearch'd a single clod."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The father died. The sons—and not in vain—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Turn'd o'er the soil, and o'er again;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That year their acres bore<br /></span>
<span class="i2">More grain than e'er before.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Though hidden money found they none,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Yet had their father wisely done,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To show by such a measure,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That toil itself is treasure.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i085.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="THE PLOUGHMAN AND HIS SONS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Ass Dressed in the Lion's Skin.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">Clad in a lion's shaggy hide,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">An ass spread terror far and wide,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, though himself a coward brute,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Put all the world to scampering rout:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But, by a piece of evil luck,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A portion of an ear outstuck,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which soon reveal'd the error<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of all the panic terror.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Old Martin did his office quick.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Surprised were all who did not know the trick,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To see that Martin, at his will,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Was driving lions to the mill!<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>In France, the men are not a few</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Of whom this fable proves too true;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Whose valour chiefly doth reside</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>In coat they wear and horse they ride.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i086.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE ASS DRESSED IN THE LION'S SKIN." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Woods and the Woodman.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A certain wood-chopper lost or broke<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From his axe's eye a bit of oak.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The forest must needs be somewhat spared<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While such a loss was being repair'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Came the man at last, and humbly pray'd<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That the woods would kindly lend to him—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A moderate loan—a single limb,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Whereof might another helve be made,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And his axe should elsewhere drive its trade.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">O, the oaks and firs that then might stand,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A pride and a joy throughout the land,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For their ancientness and glorious charms!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The innocent Forest lent him arms;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But bitter indeed was her regret;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For the wretch, his axe new-helved and whet,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Did nought but his benefactress spoil<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of the finest trees that graced her soil;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And ceaselessly was she made to groan,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Doing penance for that fatal loan.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Behold the world-stage and its actors,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Where benefits hurt benefactors!—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>A weary theme, and full of pain;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>For where's the shade so cool and sweet,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Protecting strangers from the heat,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>But might of such a wrong complain?</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Alas! I vex myself in vain;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Ingratitude, do what I will,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i6"><i>Is sure to be the fashion still.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
<img src="images/i087.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE WOODS AND THE WOODMAN." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Fox, the Wolf, and the horse.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A fox, though young, by no means raw,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had seen a horse, the first he ever saw:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Ho! neighbour wolf," said he to one quite green,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"A creature in our meadow I have seen,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Sleek, grand! I seem to see him yet,—<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The finest beast I ever met."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Is he a stouter one than we?"<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The wolf demanded, eagerly;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Some picture of him let me see."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"If I could paint," said fox, "I should delight<br /></span>
<span class="i0">T' anticipate your pleasure at the sight;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But come; who knows? perhaps it is a prey<br /></span>
<span class="i4">By fortune offer'd in our way."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They went. The horse, turn'd loose to graze,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Not liking much their looks and ways,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Was just about to gallop off.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Sir," said the fox, "your humble servants, we<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Make bold to ask you what your name may be."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The horse, an animal with brains enough,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Replied, "Sirs, you yourselves may read my name;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">My shoer round my heel hath writ the same."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The fox excus'd himself for want of knowledge:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Me, sir, my parents did not educate,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So poor, a hole was their entire estate.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">My friend, the wolf, however, taught at college,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Could read it were it even Greek."<br /></span>
<span class="i8">The wolf, to flattery weak,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Approach'd to verify the boast;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">For which four teeth he lost.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The high raised hoof came down with such a blow,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As laid him bleeding on the ground full low.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"My brother," said the fox, "this shows how just<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What once was taught me by a fox of wit,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which on thy jaws this animal hath writ,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'All unknown things the wise mistrust.'"<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i088.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE FOX THE WOLF AND THE HORSE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Fox and the Turkeys.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Against a robber fox, a tree<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Some turkeys served as citadel.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That villain, much provoked to see<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Each standing there as sentinel,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">Cried out, "Such witless birds<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At me stretch out their necks, and gobble!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No, by the powers! I'll give them trouble."<br /></span>
<span class="i10">He verified his words.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The moon, that shined full on the oak,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Seem'd then to help the turkey folk.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But fox, in arts of siege well versed,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Ransack'd his bag of tricks accursed.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He feign'd himself about to climb;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Walk'd on his hinder legs sublime;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Then death most aptly counterfeited,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And seem'd anon resuscitated.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A practiser of wizard arts<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Could not have fill'd so many parts.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In moonlight he contrived to raise<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His tail, and make it seem a blaze:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And countless other tricks like that.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Meanwhile, no turkey slept or sat.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Their constant vigilance at length,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As hoped the fox, wore out their strength.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Bewilder'd by the rigs he run,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They lost their balance one by one.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As Renard slew, he laid aside,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Till nearly half of them had died;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Then proudly to his larder bore,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And laid them up, an ample store.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i8"><i>A foe, by being over-heeded,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i8"><i>Has often in his plan succeeded.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i089.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE FOX AND THE TURKEYS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Wallet.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">From heaven, one day, did Jupiter proclaim,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Let all that live before my throne appear,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And there if any one hath aught to blame,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In matter, form, or texture of his frame,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He may bring forth his grievance without fear.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Redress shall instantly be given to each.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Come, monkey, now, first let us have your speech.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">You see these quadrupeds, your brothers;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Comparing, then, yourself with others,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Are you well satisfied?" "And wherefore not?"<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Says Jock. "Haven't I four trotters with the rest?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Is not my visage comely as the best?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But this my brother Bruin, is a blot<br /></span>
<span class="i4">On thy creation fair;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And sooner than be painted I'd be shot,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Were I, great sire, a bear."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The bear approaching, doth he make complaint?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not he;—himself he lauds without restraint.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The elephant he needs must criticise;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To crop his ears and stretch his tail were wise;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A creature he of huge, misshapen size.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The elephant, though famed as beast judicious,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While on his own account he had no wishes,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Pronounced dame whale too big to suit his taste;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of flesh and fat she was a perfect waste.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The little ant, again, pronounced the gnat too wee;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To such a speck, a vast colossus she.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each censured by the rest, himself content,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Back to their homes all living things were sent.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>Such folly liveth yet with human fools.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>For others lynxes, for ourselves but moles.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Great blemishes in other men we spy,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Which in ourselves we pass most kindly by.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>As in this world we're but way-farers,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Kind Heaven has made us wallet-bearers.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>The pouch behind our own defects must store,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>The faults of others lodge in that before.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i090.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE WALLET." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Woodman and Mercury.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A man that labour'd in the wood<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Had lost his honest livelihood;<br /></span>
<span class="i10">That is to say,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His axe was gone astray.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He had no tools to spare;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This wholly earn'd his fare.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Without a hope beside,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He sat him down and cried,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Alas, my axe! where can it be?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">O Jove! but send it back to me,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And it shall strike good blows for thee."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His prayer in high Olympus heard,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Swift Mercury started at the word.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Your axe must not be lost," said he:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Now, will you know it when you see?<br /></span>
<span class="i0">An axe I found upon the road."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With that an axe of gold he show'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Is't this?" The woodman answer'd, "Nay."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">An axe of silver, bright and gay,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Refused the honest woodman too.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">At last the finder brought to view<br /></span>
<span class="i0">An axe of iron, steel, and wood.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"That's mine," he said, in joyful mood;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"With that I'll quite contented be."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The god replied, "I give the three,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As due reward of honesty."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This luck when neighbouring choppers knew,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They lost their axes, not a few,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And sent their prayers to Jupiter<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So fast, he knew not which to hear.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His winged son, however, sent<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With gold and silver axes, went.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each would have thought himself a fool<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Not to have own'd the richest tool.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But Mercury promptly gave, instead<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of it, a blow upon the head.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4"><i>With simple truth to be contented,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Is surest not to be repented;</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>But still there are who would</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>With evil trap the good,—</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Whose cunning is but stupid,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i4"><i>For Jove is never dupéd.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
<img src="images/i091.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="THE WOODMAN AND MERCURY." title="" />
<span class="caption">THE WOODMAN AND MERCURY.</span>
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion and the Monkey.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The lion, for his kingdom's sake,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In morals would some lessons take,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And therefore call'd, one summer's day,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The monkey, master of the arts,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An animal of brilliant parts,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To hear what he could say.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Great king," the monkey thus began,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"To reign upon the wisest plan<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Requires a prince to set his zeal,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And passion for the public weal,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Distinctly and quite high above<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A certain feeling call'd self-love,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The parent of all vices,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">In creatures of all sizes.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To will this feeling from one's breast away,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Is not the easy labour of a day;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By that your majesty august,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Will execute your royal trust,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From folly free and aught unjust."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Give me," replied the king,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Example of each thing."<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"Each species," said the sage,—<br /></span>
<span class="i8">"And I begin with ours,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Exalts its own peculiar powers<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Above sound reason's gauge.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Meanwhile, all other kinds and tribes<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As fools and blockheads it describes,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With other compliments as cheap.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, on the other hand, the same<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Self-love inspires a beast to heap<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The highest pyramid of fame<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For every one that bears his name;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Because he justly deems such praise<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The easiest way himself to raise.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'Tis my conclusion in the case,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That many a talent here below<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is but cabal, or sheer grimace,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The art of seeming things to know—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An art in which perfection lies<br /></span>
<span class="i2">More with the ignorant than wise."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
<img src="images/i092.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="THE LION AND THE MONKEY" title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Shepherd and the Lion.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The Fable Æsop tells is nearly this:—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A shepherd from his flock began to miss,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And long'd to catch the stealer of, his sheep.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Before a cavern, dark and deep,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Where wolves retired by day to sleep,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which he suspected as the thieves,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He set his trap among the leaves;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And, ere he left the place,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He thus invoked celestial grace:—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"O king of all the powers divine,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Against the rogue but grant me this delight,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That this my trap may catch him in my sight,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And I, from twenty calves of mine,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Will make the fattest thine."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But while the words were on his tongue,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forth came a lion great and strong.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Down crouch'd the man of sheep, and said,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With shivering fright half dead,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"Alas! that man should never be aware<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of what may be the meaning of his prayer!<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To catch the robber of my flocks,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">O king of gods, I pledged a calf to thee:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">If from his clutches thou wilt rescue me,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I'll raise my offering to an ox."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i093.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE SHEPHERD AND THE LION." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Horse and the Wolf.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">A wolf who, fall'n on needy days,<br /></span>
<span class="i10">In sharp look-out for means and ways,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Espied a horse turn'd out to graze.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">His joy the reader may opine.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Once got," said he, "this game were fine;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But if a sheep, 'twere sooner mine.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I can't proceed my usual way;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Some trick must now be put in play."<br /></span>
<span class="i10">This said,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He came with measured tread,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And told the horse, with learned verbs,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He knew the power of roots and herbs,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Whatever grew about those borders,—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He soon could cure of all disorders.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">If he, Sir Horse, would not conceal<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The symptoms of his case,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">He, Doctor Wolf, would gratis heal;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">For that to feed in such a place,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">And run about untied,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Was proof itself of some disease,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">As all the books decide.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"I have, good Doctor, if you please,"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Replied the horse, "as I presume,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Beneath my foot, an aposthume."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"My son," replied the learned leech,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"That part, as all our authors teach,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Is strikingly susceptible<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Of ills which make acceptable<br /></span>
<span class="i4">What you may also have from me—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The aid of skilful surgery."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The fellow, with this talk sublime,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Watch'd for a snap the fitting time.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Meanwhile, suspicious of some trick,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">The weary patient nearer draws,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And gives his doctor such a kick,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">As makes a chowder of his jaws.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Exclaim'd the Wolf, in sorry plight,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">"I own those heels have served me right.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I err'd to quit my trade, as I will not in future;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Me Nature surely made for nothing but a butcher."<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 344px;">
<img src="images/i094.jpg" width="344" height="500" alt="THE HORSE AND THE WOLF." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Eagle and the Owl.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The eagle and the owl, resolved to cease<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Their war, embraced in pledge of peace.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On faith of king, on faith of owl, they swore<br /></span>
<span class="i0">That they would eat each other's chicks no more.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"But know you mine?" said Wisdom's bird.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Not I, indeed," the eagle cried.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"The worse for that," the owl replied:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I fear your oath's a useless word;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I fear that you, as king, will not<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Consider duly who or what:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Adieu, my young, if you should meet them!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"Describe them, then, and I'll not eat them,"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The eagle said. The owl replied:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My little ones, I say with pride,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For grace of form cannot be match'd,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The prettiest birds that e'er were hatch'd;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By this you cannot fail to know them;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">'Tis needless, therefore, that I show them."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At length God gives the owl a set of heirs,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And while at early eve abroad he fares,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">In quest of birds and mice for food,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our eagle haply spies the brood,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">As on some craggy rock they sprawl,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or nestle in some ruined wall,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">(But which it matters not at all,)<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And thinks them ugly little frights,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Grim, sad, with voice like shrieking sprites.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"These chicks," says he, "with looks almost infernal,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Can't be the darlings of our friend nocturnal.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I'll sup of them." And so he did, not slightly:—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He never sups, if he can help it, lightly.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The owl return'd; and, sad, he found<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Nought left but claws upon the ground.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He pray'd the gods above and gods below<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To smite the brigand who had caused his woe.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Quoth one, "On you alone the blame must fall;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thinking your like the loveliest of all<br /></span>
<span class="i0">You told the eagle of your young ones' graces;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">You gave the picture of their faces:—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Had it of likeness any traces?"<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 358px;">
<img src="images/i095.jpg" width="358" height="500" alt="THE EAGLE AND THE OWL." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Miser and the Monkey.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A Man amass'd. The thing, we know,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Doth often to a frenzy grow.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No thought had he but of his minted gold—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Stuff void of worth when unemploy'd, I hold.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Now, that this treasure might the safer be,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Our miser's dwelling had the sea<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As guard on every side from every thief.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">With pleasure, very small in my belief,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But very great in his, he there<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Upon his hoard bestow'd his care.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">No respite came of everlasting<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Recounting, calculating, casting;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For some mistake would always come<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To mar and spoil the total sum.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A monkey there, of goodly size,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And than his lord, I think, more wise,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Some doubloons from the window threw,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And render'd thus the count untrue.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The padlock'd room permitted<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Its owner, when he quitted,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To leave his money on the table.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">One day, bethought this monkey wise<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To make the whole a sacrifice<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To Neptune on his throne unstable.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">I could not well award the prize<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Between the monkey's and the miser's pleasure<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Derived from that devoted treasure.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">One day, then, left alone,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That animal, to mischief prone,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Coin after coin detach'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">A gold jacobus snatch'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or Portuguese doubloon,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Or silver ducatoon,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Or noble, of the English rose,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And flung with all his might<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Those discs, which oft excite<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The strongest wishes mortal ever knows.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Had he not heard, at last,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The turning of his master's key,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The money all had pass'd<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The same short road to sea;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And not a single coin but had been pitch'd<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Into the gulf by many a wreck enrich'd.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Now, God preserve full many a financier</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Whose use of wealth may find its likeness here!</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
<img src="images/i096.jpg" width="355" height="500" alt="THE MISER AND THE MONKEY." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Vultures and the Pigeons.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Mars once made havoc in the air:<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Some cause aroused a quarrel there<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Among the birds;—not those that sing,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The courtiers of the merry Spring,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But naughty hawk and vulture folks,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of hooked beak and talons keen.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The carcass of a dog, 'tis said,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Had to this civil carnage led.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Blood rain'd upon the swarded green,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And valiant deeds were done, I ween.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Suffice to say, that chiefs were slain,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And heroes strow'd the sanguine plain.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Twas sport to see the battle rage,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And valiant hawk with hawk engage;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">'Twas pitiful to see them fall,—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Torn, bleeding, weltering, gasping, all.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Force, courage, cunning, all were plied;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Intrepid troops on either side<br /></span>
<span class="i0">No effort spared to populate<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The dusky realms of hungry Fate.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">This woful strife awoke compassion<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Within another feather'd nation,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of iris neck and tender heart.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">They tried their hand at mediation—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To reconcile the foes, or part.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The pigeon people duly chose<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Ambassadors, who work'd so well<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As soon the murderous rage to quell,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And stanch the source of countless woes.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A truce took place, and peace ensued.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Alas! the people dearly paid<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Who such pacification made!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Those cursed hawks at once pursued<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The harmless pigeons, slew and ate,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Till towns and fields were desolate.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>The safety of the rest requires</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>The bad should flesh each other's spears:</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Whoever peace with them desires</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Had better set them by the ears.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
<img src="images/i097.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="THE VULTURES AND THE PIGEONS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Stag and the Vine.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">A stag, by favour of a vine,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Which grew where suns most genial shine,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And form'd a thick and matted bower<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Which might have turn'd a summer shower,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Was saved from ruinous assault.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The hunters thought their dogs at fault,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And call'd them off. In danger now no more<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The stag, a thankless wretch and vile,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Began to browse his benefactress o'er.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The hunters, listening the while,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The rustling heard, came back,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">With all their yelping pack,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And seized him in that very place.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"This is," said he, "but justice, in my case.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Let every black ingrate<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Henceforward profit by my fate."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The dogs fell to—'twere wasting breath<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To pray those hunters at the death.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They left, and we will not revile 'em<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A warning for profaners of asylum.<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;">
<img src="images/i098.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="THE STAG AND THE VINE." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">An iron pot proposed<br /></span>
<span class="i4">To an earthen pot a journey.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The latter was opposed,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Expressing the concern he<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Had felt about the danger<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of going out a ranger.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">He thought the kitchen hearth<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The safest place on earth<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For one so very brittle.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"For thee, who art a kettle,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And hast a tougher skin,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">There's nought to keep thee in."<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"I'll be thy body-guard,"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Replied the iron pot;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"If anything that's hard<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Should threaten thee a jot,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Between you I will go,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And save thee from the blow."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This offer him persuaded.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The iron pot paraded<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Himself as guard and guide<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Close at his cousin's side.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Now, in their tripod way,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They hobble as they may;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And eke together bolt<br /></span>
<span class="i2">At every little jolt,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Which gives the crockery pain;<br /></span>
<span class="i4">But presently his comrade hits<br /></span>
<span class="i4">So hard, he dashes him to bits,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Before he can complain.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Take care that you associate</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>With equals only, lest your fate</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Between these pots should find its mate.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 345px;">
<img src="images/i099.jpg" width="345" height="500" alt="THE EARTHEN POT AND THE IRON POT." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Bear and the Two Companions.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Two fellows, needing funds, and bold,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">A bearskin to a furrier sold,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Of which the bear was living still,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But which they presently would kill—<br /></span>
<span class="i4">At least they said they would,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And vow'd their word was good.<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The bargain struck upon the skin,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Two days at most must bring it in.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Forth went the two. More easy found than got,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bear came growling at them on the trot.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Behold our dealers both confounded,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">As if by thunderbolt astounded!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their bargain vanish'd suddenly in air;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For who could plead his interest with a bear?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">One of the friends sprung up a tree;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The other, cold as ice could be,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Fell on his face, feign'd death,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And closely held his breath,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He having somewhere heard it said<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The bear ne'er preys upon the dead.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sir Bear, sad blockhead, was deceived—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The prostrate man a corpse believed;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, half suspecting some deceit,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He feels and snuffs from head to feet,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And in the nostrils blows.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The body's surely dead, he thinks.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"I'll leave it," says he, "for it stinks;"<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And off into the woods he goes.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The other dealer, from his tree<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Descending cautiously, to see<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His comrade lying in the dirt,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Consoling, says, "It is a wonder<br /></span>
<span class="i4">That, by the monster forced asunder,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">We're, after all, more scared than hurt.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But," addeth he, "what of the creature's skin?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He held his muzzle very near;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What did he whisper in your ear?"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"He gave this caution,—'Never dare<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Again to sell the skin of bear<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Its owner has not ceased to wear.'"<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
<img src="images/i100.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="THE BEAR AND THE TWO COMPANIONS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">A Lion, old, and impotent with gout,<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Would have some cure for age found out.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This king, from every species,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Call'd to his aid the leeches.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They came, from quacks without degree<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To doctors of the highest fee.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Advised, prescribed, talk'd learnedly;<br /></span>
<span class="i6">But with the rest<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Came not Sir Cunning Fox, M.D.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sir Wolf the royal couch attended,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And his suspicions there express'd.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Forthwith his majesty, offended,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Resolved Sir Cunning Fox should come,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And sent to smoke him from his home.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">He came, was duly usher'd in,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, knowing where Sir Wolf had been,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Said, "Sire, abused your royal ear<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Has been by rumours insincere;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To wit, that I've been self-exempt<br /></span>
<span class="i2">From coming here, through sheer contempt.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But, sire, your royal health to aid,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I vow'd to make a pilgrimage,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, on my way, met doctors sage,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">In skill the wonder of the age,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Whom carefully I did consult<br /></span>
<span class="i4">About that great debility<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Term'd in the books senility,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of which you fear, with reason, the result.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">You lack, they say, the vital heat,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By age extreme become effete.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Drawn from a living wolf, the hide<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Should warm and smoking be applied.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sir Wolf, here, won't refuse to give<br /></span>
<span class="i2">His hide to cure you, as I live."<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The king was pleased with this advice.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Flay'd, jointed, served up in a trice,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Sir Wolf first wrapped the monarch up,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Then furnish'd him whereon to sup.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2"><i>Beware, ye courtiers, lest ye gain,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i2"><i>By slander's arts, less power than pain.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 343px;">
<img src="images/i101.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="THE LION THE WOLF AND THE FOX." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Battle of the Rats and Weasels.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The weasels live, no more than cats,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">On terms of friendship with the rats;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And, were it not that these<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Through doors contrive to squeeze<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Too narrow for their foes,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">The animals long-snouted<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Would long ago have routed,<br /></span>
<span class="i4">And from the planet scouted<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Their race, as I suppose.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">One year it did betide,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">When they were multiplied,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">An army took the field<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of rats, with spear and shield,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Whose crowded ranks led on<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A king named Ratapon.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The weasels, too, their banner<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Unfurl'd in warlike manner.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As Fame her trumpet sounds,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The victory balanced well;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Enrich'd were fallow grounds<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Where slaughter'd legions fell;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But by said trollop's tattle,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The loss of life in battle<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thinn'd most the rattish race<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In almost every place;<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">And finally their rout<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Was total, spite of stout<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Artarpax and Psicarpax,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And valiant Meridarpax,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who, cover'd o'er with dust,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Long time sustain'd their host<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Down sinking on the plain.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Their efforts were in vain;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Fate ruled that final hour,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">(Inexorable power!)<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And so the captains fled<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As well as those they led;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The princes perish'd all.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The undistinguish'd small<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In certain holes found shelter;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">In crowding, helter-skelter;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But the nobility<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Could not go in so free,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Who proudly had assumed<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each one a helmet plumed;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">We know not, truly, whether<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For honour's sake the feather,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Or foes to strike with terror;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">But, truly, 'twas their error.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Nor hole, nor crack, nor crevice<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Will let their head-gear in;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">While meaner rats in bevies<br /></span>
<span class="i2">An easy passage win;—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">So that the shafts of fate<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Do chiefly hit the great.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>A feather in the cap</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Is oft a great mishap.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>An equipage too grand</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Comes often to a stand</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Within a narrow place.</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>The small, whate'er the case,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>With ease slip through a strait,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>Where larger folks must wait.</i><br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
<img src="images/i102.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="THE BATTLE OF THE RATS AND THE WEASELS." title="" />
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
<h2>The Animals Sick of the Plague.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The sorest ill that Heaven hath<br /></span>
<span class="i6">Sent on this lower world in wrath,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The plague (to call it by its name,)<br /></span>
<span class="i6">One single day of which<br /></span>
<span class="i4">Would Pluto's ferryman enrich,—<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Waged war on beasts, both wild and tame.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">They died not all, but all were sick:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No hunting now, by force or trick,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">To save what might so soon expire.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No food excited their desire;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Nor wolf nor fox now watch'd to slay<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The innocent and tender prey.<br /></span>
<span class="i10">The turtles fled;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">So love and therefore joy were dead.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The lion council held, and said:<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"My friends, I do believe<br /></span>
<span class="i2">This awful scourge, for which we grieve,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is for our sins a punishment<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Most righteously by Heaven sent.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Let us our guiltiest beast resign,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">A sacrifice to wrath divine.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Perhaps this offering, truly small,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">May gain the life and health of all.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">By history we find it noted<br /></span>
<span class="i2">That lives have been just so devoted.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Then let us all turn eyes within,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And ferret out the hidden sin.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Himself let no one spare nor flatter,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">But make clean conscience in the matter.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">For me, my appetite has play'd the glutton<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Too much and often upon mutton.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What harm had e'er my victims done?<br /></span>
<span class="i6">I answer, truly, None.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Perhaps, sometimes, by hunger press'd,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I've eat the shepherd with the rest.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">I yield myself, if need there be;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And yet I think, in equity,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Each should confess his sins with me;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For laws of right and justice cry,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The guiltiest alone should die."<br /></span>
<span class="i4">"Sire," said the fox, "your majesty<br /></span>
<span class="i2">Is humbler than a king should be,<br /></span>
<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></div></div>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
<img src="images/i103.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="THE ANIMALS SICK OF THE PLAGUE." title="" />
</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">And over-squeamish in the case.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">What! eating stupid sheep a crime?<br /></span>
<span class="i2">No, never, sire, at any time.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">It rather was an act of grace,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A mark of honour to their race.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And as to shepherds, one may swear,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The fate your majesty describes,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Is recompense less full than fair<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For such usurpers o'er our tribes."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Thus Renard glibly spoke,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">And loud applause from flatterers broke.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Of neither tiger, boar, nor bear,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Did any keen inquirer dare<br /></span>
<span class="i0">To ask for crimes of high degree;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The fighters, biters, scratchers, all<br /></span>
<span class="i0">From every mortal sin were free;<br /></span>
<span class="i2">The very dogs, both great and small,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Were saints, as far as dogs could be.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">The ass, confessing in his turn,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Thus spoke in tones of deep concern:—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">"I happen'd through a mead to pass;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The monks, its owners, were at mass;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Keen hunger, leisure, tender grass,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And add to these the devil too,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">All tempted me the deed to do.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">I browsed the bigness of my tongue;<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Since truth must out, I own it wrong."<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">On this, a hue and cry arose,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">As if the beasts were all his foes:<br /></span>
<span class="i0">A wolf, haranguing lawyer-wise.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">Denounced the ass for sacrifice—<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The bald-pate, scabby, ragged lout,<br /></span>
<span class="i0">By whom the plague had come, no doubt.<br /></span>
<span class="i0">His fault was judged a hanging crime.<br /></span>
<span class="i2">"What? eat another's grass? O shame!<br /></span>
<span class="i0">The noose of rope and death sublime,<br /></span>
<span class="i2">For that offence, were all too tame!"<br /></span>
<span class="i2">And soon poor Grizzle felt the same.<br /></span>
</div><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Thus human courts acquit the strong,</i><br /></span>
<span class="i0"><i>And doom the weak, as therefore wrong.</i><br /></span>
</div></div>
<pre>
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