Fables for the Frivolous | Page 6

aimed to please
The crow, and it succeeded:

He thought no bird in all the trees
Could sing as well as he did.
In
flattery completely doused,
He gave the "Jewel Song" from "Faust."
[Illustration: "'J'ADMIRE_,' SAID HE, '_TON BEAU PLUMAGE'"]
But gravitation's law, of course,
As Isaac Newton showed it,

Exerted on the cheese its force,
And elsewhere soon bestowed it.
In
fact, there is no need to tell
What happened when to earth it fell.
I blush to add that when the bird
Took in the situation
He said one
brief, emphatic word,
Unfit for publication.
The fox was greatly
startled, but
He only sighed and answered "Tut."
THE MORAL is: A fox is bound
To be a shameless sinner.
And
also: When the cheese comes round
You know it's after dinner.
But
(what is only known to few)
The fox is after dinner, too.
THE MICROSCOPIC TROUT
AND
THE MACHIAVELIAN FISHERMAN
A fisher was casting his flies in a brook,
According to laws of such
sciences,
With a patented reel and a patented hook
And a number of
other appliances;
And the thirty-fifth cast, which he vowed was the
last
(It was figured as close as a decimal),
Brought suddenly out of
the water a trout
Of measurements infinitesimal.
This fish had a way that would win him a place
In the best and most
polished society,
And he looked at the fisherman full in the face


With a visible air of anxiety:
He murmered "Alas!" from his place in
the grass,
And then, when he'd twisted and wriggled, he
Remarked
in a pet that his heart was upset
And digestion all higgledy-piggledy.
"I request," he observed, "to be instantly flung
Once again in the pool
I've been living in."
The fisherman said, "You will tire out your
tongue.
Do you see any signs of my giving in?
Put you back in the
pool? Why, you fatuous fool,
I have eaten much smaller and thinner
fish.
You're not salmon or sole, but I think, on the whole,
You're a
fairly respectable dinner-fish."
The fisherman's cook tried her hand on the trout
And with various
herbs she embellished him;
He was lovely to see, and there isn't a
doubt
That the fisherman's family relished him,
And, to prove that
they did, both his wife and his kid
Devoured the trout with much
eagerness,
Avowing no dish could compare with that fish,

Notwithstanding his singular meagreness.
And THE MORAL, you'll find, is although it is kind
To grant favors
that people are wishing for,
Still a dinner you'll lack if you chance to
throw back
In the pool little trout that you're fishing for;
If their
pleading you spurn you will certainly learn
That herbs will
deliciously vary 'em:
It is needless to state that a trout on a plate

Beats several in the aquarium.
THE CONFIDING PEASANT
AND
THE MALADROIT BEAR
A peasant had a docile bear,
A bear of manners pleasant,
And all
the love she had to spare
She lavished on the peasant:
She proved
her deep affection plainly
(The method was a bit ungainly).

The peasant had to dig and delve,
And, as his class are apt to,
When
all the whistles blew at twelve
He ate his lunch, and napped, too,

The bear a careful outlook keeping
The while her master lay
a-sleeping.
As thus the peasant slept one day,
The weather being torrid,
A gnat
beheld him where he lay
And lit upon his forehead,
And thence,
like all such winged creatures,
Proceeded over all his features.
The watchful bear, perceiving that
The gnat lit on her master,

Resolved to light upon the gnat
And plunge him in disaster;
She
saw no sense in being lenient
When stones lay round her, most
convenient.
And so a weighty rock she aimed
With much enthusiasm:
"Oh,
lor'!" the startled gnat exclaimed,
And promptly had a spasm:
A
natural proceeding this was,
Considering how close the miss was.
[Illustration: AND SO A WEIGHTY ROCK SHE AIMED]
Now by his dumb companion's pluck,
Which caused the gnat to
squall so,
The sleeping man was greatly struck
(And by the bowlder,
also).
In fact, his friends who idolized him
Remarked they hardly
recognized him.
Of course the bear was greatly grieved,
But, being just a dumb thing,

She only thought: "I was deceived,
But still, I did hit something!"

Which showed this masculine achievement
Had somewhat soothed
her deep bereavement.
THE MORAL: If you prize your bones
Beware of females throwing
stones.
THE PRECIPITATE COCK
AND

THE UNAPPRECIATED PEARL
A rooster once pursued a worm
That lingered not to brave him,
To
see his wretched victim squirm
A pleasant thrill it gave him;
He
summoned all his kith and kin,
They hastened up by legions,
With
quaint, expressive gurgles in
Their oesophageal regions.
Just then a kind of glimmering
Attracting his attention,
The worm
became too small a thing
For more than passing mention:
The
throng of hungry hens and rude
He skilfully evaded.
Said he, "I'
faith, if this be food,
I saw the prize ere they did."
It was a large and costly pearl,
Belonging in a necklace,
And
dropped by some neglectful girl:
Some people are so reckless!
The
cock assumed an air forlorn,
And cried, "It's really cruel.
I thought
it was a grain of corn:
It's nothing but a jewel."
He turned again to where his clan
In one astounding tangle
With
eager haste together ran
To slay the helpless