A City Mouse, with ways polite,A Country Mouse invitedTo sup with him and spend the night.Said Country Mouse: “De–lighted!”In truth it proved a royal treat,With everything that’s good to eat. Alas! When they had just begunTo gobble their dinner,A knock was heard that made them run.The City Mouse seemed thinner.And as they scampered and turned […]

A Miller and Son once set out for the fair,To sell a fine ass they had brought up with care;And the way that they started made everyone stare. To keep the Ass fresh, so the beast would sell dearOn a pole they slung him. It surely seemed queer:He looked, with heels up, like some huge […]

JOHN, as he came, so went away,Consuming capital and pay,Holding superfluous riches cheap;The trick of spending time he knew,Dividing it in portions two,For idling one, and one for sleep.

A long-legged Heron, with long neck and beak,Set out for a stroll by the bank of a creek.So clear was the water that if you looked sharpYou could see the pike caper around with the carp.The Heron might quickly have speared enough fishTo make for his dinner a capital dish.But he was a very particular […]

An Eagle swooped from out the sky,And carried off a sheep.A Raven seeing him, said: “ICould do that too if I should try.His meal comes mighty cheap.” Of all that well-fed flock was oneAs fat as fat could be.The Raven rose, and lit uponHer back. She seemed to weigh a ton–So very fat was she. […]

Said the Tortoise one day to the Hare:“I’ll run you a race if you dare.I’ll bet you cannotArrive at that spotAs quickly as I can get there.” Quoth the Hare: “You are surely insane.Pray, what has affected your brain?You seem pretty sick.Call a doctor in–quick,And let him prescribe for your pain.” “Never mind,” said the […]

A CLOISTERED nun had a loverDwelling in the neighb’ring town;Both racked their brains to discoverHow they best their love might crown.The swain to pass the convent-door!–No easy matter!–Thus they swore,And wished it light.–I ne’er knew a nunIn such a pass to be outdone:–In woman’s clothes the youth must dress,And gain admission. I confessThe ruse has […]

THE simple Jane was sent to bringFresh water from the neighb’ring spring;The matter pressed, no time to waste,Jane took her jug, and ran in hasteThe well to reach, but in her flurry(The more the speed the worse the hurry),Tripped on a rolling stone, and brokeHer precious pitcher,–ah! no joke!Nay, grave mishap! ’twere better farTo break […]

I AM always inclined to suspectThe best story under the sunAs soon as by chance I detectThat teller and hero are one. We’re all of us prone to conceit,And like to proclaim our own glory,But our purpose we’re apt to defeatAs actors in chief of our story. To prove the truth of what I stateLet […]

NO easy matter ’tis to hold,Against its owner’s will, the fleeceWho troubled by the itching smartOf Cupid’s irritating dart,Eager awaits some Jason boldTo grant release.E’en dragon huge, or flaming steer,When Jason’s loved will cause no fear. Duennas, grating, bolt and lock,All obstacles can naught avail;Constraint is but a stumbling block;For youthful ardour must prevail.Girls are […]

JOHN courts Perrette; but all in vain;Love’s sweetest oaths, and tears, and sighsAll potent spells her heart to gainThe ardent lover vainly tries:Fruitless his arts to make her waver,She will not grant the smallest favour:A ruse our youth resolved to tryThe cruel air to mollify:–Holding his fingers ten outspreadTo Perrette’s gaze, and with no dread“So […]

A wolf, affirming his beliefThat he had suffer’d by a thief,Brought up his neighbour fox–Of whom it was by all confess’d,His character was not the best–To fill the prisoner’s box.As judge between these vermin,A monkey graced the ermine;And truly other gifts of ThemisDid scarcely seem his;For while each party plead his cause,Appealing boldly to the […]

Two thieves, pursuing their profession,Had of a donkey got possession,Whereon a strife arose,Which went from words to blows.The question was, to sell, or not to sell;But while our sturdy champions fought it well,Another thief, who chanced to pass,With ready wit rode off the ass. This ass is, by interpretation,Some province poor, or prostrate nation.The thieves […]

Some beast with horns did goreThe lion; and that sovereign dread,Resolved to suffer so no more,Straight banish’d from his realm, ’tis said,All sorts of beasts with horns–Rams, bulls, goats, stags, and unicorns.Such brutes all promptly fled.A hare, the shadow of his ears perceiving,Could hardly help believingThat some vile spy for horns would take them,And food […]

A pagan kept a god of wood,–A sort that never hears,Though furnish’d well with ears,–From which he hoped for wondrous good.The idol cost the board of three;So much enrich’d was heWith vows and offerings vain,With bullocks garlanded and slain:No idol ever had, as that,A kitchen quite so full and fat.But all this worship at his […]

One’s native talent from its courseCannot be turned aside by force;But poorly apes the country clownThe polish’d manners of the town.Their Maker chooses but a fewWith power of pleasing to imbue;Where wisely leave it we, the mass,Unlike a certain fabled ass,That thought to gain his master’s blessingBy jumping on him and caressing.“What!” said the donkey […]

A weasel through a hole contrived to squeeze,(She was recovering from disease,)Which led her to a farmer’s hoard.There lodged, her wasted form she cherish’d;Heaven knows the lard and victuals storedThat by her gnawing perish’d!Of which the consequenceWas sudden corpulence.A week or so was past,When having fully broken fast,A noise she heard, and hurriedTo find the […]

The pleasures of a poultry yardWere by a swan and gosling shared.The swan was kept there for his looks,The thrifty gosling for the cooks;The first the garden’s pride, the latterA greater favourite on the platter.They swam the ditches, side by side,And oft in sports aquatic vied,Plunging, splashing far and wide,With rivalry ne’er satisfied.One day the […]

The king of animals, with royal grace,Would celebrate his birthday in the chase.‘Twas not with bow and arrows,To slay some wretched sparrows;The lion hunts the wild boar of the wood,The antlered deer and stags, the fat and good.This time, the king, t’ insure success,Took for his aide-de-camp an ass,A creature of stentorian voice,That felt much […]

From bowers of gods the bees came down to man.On Mount Hymettus, first, they say,They made their home, and stored awayThe treasures which the zephyrs fan.When men had robb’d these daughters of the sky,And left their palaces of nectar dry,–Or, in English as the thing’s explain’d,When hives were of their honey drain’d–The spoilers ‘gan the […]