Aeroplanes | Page 6

year,?Than put forth a ridiculous one, it is clear.
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THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.
A wolf and lamb once chanced to meet,?Beside a stream, whose waters sweet?Brought various kinds of beasts together,?When dry and sultry was the weather;?Now though the wolf came there to _drink_,?Of _eating_, he began to think,?As soon as near the lamb he came,?And straight resolved to kill the same;?Yet thought it better to begin,?With threat'ning words and angry mien.
"And so," said he, to him below,?"How dare you stir the water so??Making the cool refreshing flood,?As brown as beer, and thick as mud."
"Sir," said the lamb, "that cannot be,?The water flows _from you to me_;?So, 'tis impossible, I think,?That what I do can spoil your drink."
"I say it does, you saucy puss:?How dare you contradict me thus;?But more than this, you idle clack,?You rail'd at me behind my back?Two years ago, I have been told;"?"How so? I'm not a twelvemonth old,"?The lamb replied; "So I suspect?Your honor is not quite correct."
"If not, your mother it must be,?And that comes all the same to me,"?Rejoined the wolf--who waited not?But kill'd and ate him on the spot.
MORAL.
Some, like the wolf, adopt the plan,?To make a quarrel _if they can_;?But none with you can hold dispute,?If you're _determined_ to be mute;?For sure this proverb must be true,?That ev'ry _quarrel_ must have _two_.
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THE BEASTS IN PARTNERSHIP.
This _firm_ once existed, I'd have you to know,?Messrs. Lion, Wolf, Tiger, Fox, Leopard, and Co.;?These in business were join'd, and of course 'twas implied, They their stocks should unite, and the profits divide.
Now the fable relates, it so happened one day,?That their efforts combined, made a bullock their prey:?But agreed that the Lion should make the division,?And patiently waited the monarch's decision.
"My friends," said the Lion, "I've parted, you see,?The whole into six, which is right, you'll agree;?One part I may claim, as my share in the trade."?"Oh, take it and welcome," they all of them said.
"I claim too the second; since no one denies?'Twas my courage and conduct that gained you the prize:?And for the third; that you know is a fine?To the Lord of the manor, and therefore is mine."
"Hey day!" said the fox; "Stop a bit," said the lion,?"I have not quite done," said he, fixing his eye on?The other three parts; "you are fully aware,?That, as _tribute_, one other part comes to my share.
"And I think 'twould be prudent, the next to put by?Somewhere safe in _my_ den for a future supply,?And the other, you know, will but barely suffice,?To pay those expenses which always arise."
"If this be the case," said the fox, "I discern?That the business to _us_ is a losing concern;?If so to withdraw, I should think would be best;"?"Oh, yes! let us break up the firm," said the rest;
And so:--for you may not have heard of it yet,--?It was quickly dissolved, though not in _the gazette_.
MORAL.
Some folks in their dealings, like him in the fable,?Will take others' shares, if they think they are able;?But let them not wonder who act in this way,?If they find none will join them in business or play.
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THE LION AND THE MOUSE.
A lion, with the heat oppress'd,?One day composed himself to rest;?But whilst he dozed, as he intended,?A mouse his royal back ascended;?Nor thought of harm as Esop tells,?Mistaking him for something else,?And travelled over him, and round him,?And might have left him as he found him,?Had he not, tremble when you hear,?Tried to explore the monarch's ear!?Who straightway woke with wrath immense,?And shook his head to cast him thence.?"You rascal, what are you about,"?Said he, when he had turned him out.?"I'll teach you soon," the lion said,?"To make a mouse-hole in my head!"?So saying, he prepared his foot,?To crush the trembling tiny brute;?But he, the mouse, with tearful eye,?Implored the lion's clemency,?Who thought it best at least to give?His little pris'ner a reprieve.?'Twas nearly twelve months after this,?The lion chanced his way to miss;?When pressing forward: heedless yet,?He got entangled in a net.?With dreadful rage he stamp'd and tore,?And straight commenced a lordly roar;?When the poor mouse who heard the noise,?Attended, for she knew his voice.?Then what the lion's utmost strength?Could not effect, she did at length:?With patient labor she applied?Her teeth, the net-work to divide;?And so at last forth issued he,?A _lion_, by a mouse set free.
MORAL.
Few are so small or weak, I guess,?But may assist us in distress;?Nor shall we ever, if we're wise,?The meanest, or the least, despise.
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THE JEALOUS ASS.
"There lived," says friend Esop, "some ages ago,?An ass who had feelings acute, you must know;?This ass to be jealous, felt strongly inclined,?And for reasons which follow, felt hurt in his mind."
It seems that his master, as I understand,?Had a favorite dog which he fed from his hand.?Nay, the dog was permitted to jump on his knee:?An honor that vex'd our poor