To bark a little now and then,

To chase off duns and beggar men,
To fawn on friends that come or go forth,
Your master please, and so forth;
For which you have to eat

All sorts of well-cook'd meat-
Cold pullets, pigeons, savoury messes-
Besides unnumber'd fond caresses.'
The wolf, by force of appetite,
Accepts the terms outright,

Tears glistening in his eyes.
But faring on, he spies

A gall'd spot on the mastiff's neck. 'What's that?' he cries. 'O, nothing but a speck.' 'A speck?' 'Ay, ay; 'tis not enough to pain me; Perhaps the collar's mark by which they chain me.' 'Chain! chain you! What! run you not, then, Just where you please, and when ?' 'Not always, sir; but what of that?' Enough for me, to spoil your fat! It ought to be a precious price Which could to servile chains entice; For me, I'll shun them while I've wit.' So ran Sir Wolf, and runneth yet.

VI. THE HEIFER, THE GOAT, AND THE
SHEEP, IN COMPANY WITH THE LION.1

THE heifer, the goat, and their sister the sheep,
Compacted their earnings in common to keep,
'Tis said, in time past, with a lion, who sway'd
Full lordship o'er neighbours, of whatever grade.
The goat, as it happen'd, a stag having snared,
Sent off to the rest, that the beast might be shared.
All gather'd; the lion first counts on his claws,

1 Phædrus, I. 5. From this fable come the French proverbial expression, la part du lion, and its English equivalent, the "lion's share.”

And says, 'We'll proceed to divide with our paws The stag into pieces, as fix'd by our laws.'

This done, he announces part first as his own; ''Tis mine,' he says, 'truly, as lion alone.' To such a decision there's nought to be said, As he who has made it is doubtless the head. 'Well, also, the second to me should belong; 'Tis mine, be it known, by the right of the strong. Again, as the bravest, the third must be mine. To touch but the fourth whoso maketh a sign, I'll choke him to death

In the space of a

breath!'

VII.—THE WALLET.1

FROM heaven, one day, did Jupiter proclaim,
'Let all that live before my throne appear,
And there if any one hath aught to blame,
In matter, form, or texture of his frame,
He may bring forth his grievance without fear.
Redress shall instantly be given to each.

Come, monkey, now, first let us have your speech.
You see these quadrupeds, your brothers;
Comparing, then, yourself with others,

Are you well satisfied? 'And wherefore not ?' Says Jock. Haven't I four trotters with the rest? Is not my visage comely as the best?

But this my brother Bruin, is a blot
On thy creation fair;

And sooner than be painted I'd be shot,
Were I, great sire, a bear.'

The bear approaching, doth he make complaint?
Not he;-himself he lauds without restraint.
The elephant he needs must criticize;

To crop his ears and stretch his tail were wise;
A creature he of huge, misshapen size.

One of Æsop's: Phædrus also gives it, Book IV. 10.

The elephant, though famed as beast judicious, While on his own account he had no wishes, Pronounced dame whale too big to suit his taste; Of flesh and fat she was a perfect waste.

The little ant, again, pronounced the gnat too wee;
To such a speck, a vast colossus she.

Each censured by the rest, himself content,
Back to their homes all living things were sent.
Such folly liveth yet with human fools.
For others lynxes, for ourselves but moles.
Great blemishes in other men we spy,
Which in ourselves we pass most kindly by.
As in this world we're but way-farers,
Kind Heaven has made us wallet-bearers.
The pouch behind our own defects must store,
The faults of others lodge in that before.

VIII. THE SWALLOW AND THE LITTLE

By voyages in air,

BIRDS.1

With constant thought and care,
Much knowledge had a swallow gain'd,
Which she for public use retain'd,

The slightest storms she well foreknew,
And told the sailors ere they blew.

A farmer sowing hemp, once having found,
She gather'd all the little birds around,
And said, 'My friends, the freedom let me take
To prophesy a little, for your sake,

Against this dangerous seed.

Though such a bird as I
Knows how to hide or fly,
You birds a caution need.
See you that waving hand?
It scatters on the land
What well may cause alarm.

1 Æsop.

'Twill grow to nets and snares,
To catch you unawares,
And work you fatal harm!
Great multitudes I fear,
Of you, my birdies dear,
That falling seed, so little,
Will bring to cage or kettle!
But though so perilous the plot,
You now may easily defeat it :
All lighting on the seeded spot,
Just scratch up every seed and eat it.'
The little birds took little heed,
So fed were they with other seed.
Anon the field was seen

Bedeck'd in tender green.

The swallow's warning voice was heard again:
'My friends, the product of that deadly grain,
Seize now, and pull it root by root,
Or surely you'll repent its fruit.'
False, babbling prophetess,' says one,
'You'd set us at some pretty fun!

To pull this field a thousand birds are needed,
While thousands more with hemp are seeded.'
The crop now quite mature,

The swallow adds, Thus far I've fail'd of cure; I've prophesied in vain

Against this fatal grain :

It's grown. And now, my bonny birds,
Though you have disbelieved my words

Thus far, take heed at last,

When you shall see the seed-time past,
And men, no crops to labour for,
On birds shall wage their cruel war,
With deadly net and noose;
Of flying then beware,
Unless you take the air,
Like woodcock, crane, or goose.

But stop; you're not in plight
For such adventurous flight,
O'er desert waves and sands,
In search of other lands.

Hence, then, to save your precious souls,
Remaineth but to say,

"Twill be the safest way,

To chuck yourselves in holes.'
Before she had thus far gone,

The birdlings, tired of hearing,
And laughing more than fearing,
Set up a greater jargon

Than did, before the Trojan slaughter,
The Trojans round old Priam's daughter.1
And many a bird, in prison grate,
Lamented soon a Trojan fate.

'Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own;
Believe no evil till the evil's done.

IX. THE CITY RAT AND THE COUNTRY
RAT.2

A CITY rat, one night,

Did, with a civil stoop,

A country rat invite

To end a turtle soup.

Upon a Turkey carpet

They found the table spread,
And sure I need not harp it
How well the fellows fed,

The entertainment was
A truly noble one;
But some unlucky cause
Disturb'd it when begun.

It was a slight rat-tat,

That put their joys to rout;

1 Priam's daughter.-Cassandra, who predicted the fall of Troy, and was not heeded.

2 Horace, Satires, II. 6: also in Æsop.