Favourite Fables in Prose and Verse | Page 4

"you'll reach to-day,?As you so slowly make your way.?Believe a friend, and take my word,?This jaunt of yours is quite absurd.?Go to your froggery again;?In your own element remain."?No: on the journey she was bent,?Her thirst increasing as she went;?For want of drink she scarce can hop,?And yet despairing of a drop:?Too late she moans her folly past;?She faints, she sinks, she breathes her last.
MORAL.
Vulgar minds will pay full dear,?When once they move beyond their sphere.
FABLE X.
THE FIGHTING COCK AND EAGLE.
Two Cocks were fighting for the sovereignty of the dunghill, and one of them having got the better of the other, he that was vanquished crept into a hole, and hid himself for some time; but the victor flew up to an eminent place, clapt his wings, and crowed out victory. An Eagle, who was watching for his prey near the place, saw him, and, making a swoop, trussed him up in his talons, and carried him off. The Cock that had been beaten, perceiving this, soon quitted his hole, and, shaking off all remembrance of his late disgrace, gallanted the hens with all the intrepidity imaginable.
MORAL.
Before honour is humility. We must not be too much elevated by prosperity lest we meet a grievous fall.
[Illustration: THE FIGHTING COCK AND EAGLE.]
FABLE XI.
THE DIAMOND AND THE LOADSTONE.
A DIAMOND, of great beauty and lustre, observing, not only many other gems of a lower class ranged together with himself in the same cabinet, but a Loadstone likewise placed not far from him, began to question the latter how he came there, and what?pretensions he had to be ranked among the precious stones; he, who appeared to be no better than a mere flint, a sorry, coarse, rusty-looking pebble, without any the least shining quality to advance him to such an honour; and concluded with desiring him to keep his distance, and pay a proper respect to his superiors.
"I find," said the Loadstone, "you judge by external appearances, and condemn without due examination; but I will not act so?ungenerously by you. I am willing to allow you your due praise: you are a pretty bauble; I am mightily delighted to see you glitter and sparkle; I look upon you with pleasure and surprise; but I must be convinced you are of some sort of use before I acknowledge that you have any real merit, or treat you with that respect which you seem to demand. With regard to myself, I?confess my deficiency in outward beauty; but I may venture to say, that I make amends by my intrinsic qualities. The great improvement of navigation is entirely owing to me. By me the distant parts of the world have been made known and are?accessible to each other; the remotest nations are connected together, and all, as it were, united into one common society; by a mutual intercourse they relieve one another's wants, and all enjoy the several blessings peculiar to each. The world is?indebted to me for its wealth, its splendour, and its power; and the arts and sciences are, in a great measure, obliged to me for their improvements, and their continual increase. All these blessings I am the origin of; for by my aid it is that man is enable to construct that valuable instrument, the Mariner's Compass."
MORAL.
Let dazzling stones in splendour glare;?Utility's the gem for wear.
FABLE XII.
THE BEAR AND THE BEES.
A BEAR happened to be stung by a Bee; and the pain was so acute, that in the madness of revenge he ran into the garden, and?overturned the hive. This outrage provoked their anger to such a degree that it brought the fury of the whole swarm upon him. They attacked him with such violence that his life was in danger, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he made his escape,?wounded from head to tail. In this desperate condition, lamenting his misfortunes, and licking his sores, he could not forbear reflecting how much more advisable it had been to have patiently borne one injury, than by an unprofitable resentment to have provoked a thousand.
MORAL.
It is more prudent to acquiesce under an injury from a single person, then by an act of vengeance to bring upon us the?resentment of a whole community.
FABLE XIII.
THE FROGS DESIRING A KING.
The Frogs, living an easy, free life everywhere among the lakes and ponds, assembled together one day, in a very tumultuous manner, and petitioned Jupiter to let them have a king, who might inspect their morals, and make them live a little honester. Jupiter, being at that time in pretty good humour, was pleased to laugh heartily at their ridiculous request, and, throwing a little log down into the pool, cried, "There is a king for you!" The sudden splash which this made by its fall into the water, at first terrified them so exceedingly that