A gardener’s ass complain’d to DestinyOf being made to rise before the dawn.“The cocks their matins have not sung,” said he,“Ere I am up and gone.And all for what? To market herbs, it seems.Fine cause, indeed, to interrupt my dreams!”Fate, moved by such a prayer,Sent him a currier’s load to bear,Whose hides so heavy and […]

An old man, riding on his ass,Had found a spot of thrifty grass,And there turn’d loose his weary beast.Old Grizzle, pleased with such a feast,Flung up his heels, and caper’d round,Then roll’d and rubb’d upon the ground,And frisk’d and browsed and bray’d,And many a clean spot made.Arm’d men came on them as he fed:“Let’s fly,” […]

The lion had an enterprise in hand;Held a war-council, sent his provost-marshal,And gave the animals a call impartial–Each, in his way, to serve his high command.The elephant should carry on his backThe tools of war, the mighty public pack,And fight in elephantine way and form;The bear should hold himself prepared to storm;The fox all secret […]

A field in common shareA partridge and a hare,And live in peaceful state,Till, woeful to relate!The hunters’ mingled cryCompels the hare to fly.He hurries to his fort,And spoils almost the sportBy faulting every houndThat yelps upon the ground.At last his reeking heatBetrays his snug retreat.Old Tray, with philosophic nose,Snuffs carefully, and growsSo certain, that he […]

An ass, with relics for his load,Supposed the worship on the roadMeant for himself alone,And took on lofty airs,Receiving as his ownThe incense and the prayers.Some one, who saw his great mistake,Cried, “Master Donkey, do not makeYourself so big a fool.Not you they worship, but your pack;They praise the idols on your back,And count yourself […]

A beldam kept two spinning maids,Who plied so handily their trades,Those spinning sisters down belowWere bunglers when compared with these.No care did this old woman knowBut giving tasks as she might please.No sooner did the god of dayHis glorious locks enkindle,Than both the wheels began to play,And from each whirling spindleForth danced the thread right […]

Two rats in foraging fell on an egg,–For gentry such as theyA genteel dinner every way;They needed not to find an ox’s leg.Brimful of joy and appetite,They were about to sack the box,So tight without the aid of locks,When suddenly there came in sightA personage–Sir Pullet Fox.Sure, luck was never more untowardSince Fortune was a […]

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’dFull 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 […]

Two mules were bearing on their backs,One, oats; the other, silver of the tax.The latter glorying in his load,March’d proudly forward on the road;And, from the jingle of his bell,‘Twas plain he liked his burden well.But in a wild-wood glenA band of robber menRush’d forth upon the twain.Well with the silver pleased,They by the bridle […]

A shepherd, with a single dog,Was ask’d the reason whyHe kept a dog, whose least supplyAmounted to a loaf of breadFor every day. The people saidHe’d better give the animalTo guard the village seignior’s hall;For him, a shepherd, it would beA thriftier economyTo keep small curs, say two or three,That would not cost him half […]

Two asses tracking, t’other day,Of which each in his turn,Did incense to the other burn,Quite in the usual way,–I heard one to his comrade say,“My lord, do you not findThe prince of knaves and foolsTo be this man, who boasts of mindInstructed in his schools?With wit unseemly and profane,He mocks our venerable race–On each of […]

“What! shall I lose them one by one,This stupid coward throng?And never shall the wolf have done?They were at least a thousand strong,But still they’ve let poor Robin fall a prey!Ah, woe’s the day!Poor Robin Wether lying dead!He follow’d for a bit of breadHis master through the crowded city,And would have follow’d, had he led,Around […]

Old Rodilard, a certain cat,Such havoc of the rats had made,‘Twas difficult to find a ratWith nature’s debt unpaid.The few that did remain,To leave their holes afraid,From usual food abstain,Not eating half their fill.And wonder no one willThat one who made of rats his revel,With rats pass’d not for cat, but devil.Now, on a day, […]

The oak one day address’d the reed:–“To you ungenerous indeedHas nature been, my humble friend,With weakness aye obliged to bend.The smallest bird that flits in airIs quite too much for you to bear;The slightest wind that wreathes the lakeYour ever-trembling head doth shake.The while, my towering formDares with the mountain topThe solar blaze to stop,And […]

“The artist by his work is known.”A piece of honey-comb, one day,Discover’d as a waif and stray,The hornets treated as their own.Their title did the bees dispute,And brought before a wasp the suit.The judge was puzzled to decide,For nothing could be testifiedSave that around this honey-combThere had been seen, as if at home,Some longish, brownish, […]

A poor wood-chopper, with his fagot load,Whom weight of years, as well as load, oppress’d,Sore groaning in his smoky hut to rest,Trudged wearily along his homeward road.At last his wood upon the ground he throws,And sits him down to think o’er all his woes.To joy a stranger, since his hapless birth,What poorer wretch upon this […]

An envoy of the Porte Sublime,As history says, once on a time,Before th’ imperial German courtDid rather boastfully report,The troops commanded by his master’s firman,As being a stronger army than the German:To which replied a Dutch attendant,“Our prince has more than one dependantWho keeps an army at his own expense.”The Turk, a man of sense,Rejoin’d, […]

A man, who had no rivals in the loveWhich to himself he bore,Esteem’d his own dear beauty far aboveWhat earth had seen before.More than contented in his error,He lived the foe of every mirror.Officious fate, resolved our loverFrom such an illness should recover,Presented always to his eyesThe mute advisers which the ladies prize;–Mirrors in parlours, […]

The first who saw the humpback’d camelFled off for life; the next approach’d with care;The third with tyrant rope did boldly dareThe desert wanderer to trammel.Such is the power of use to changeThe face of objects new and strange;Which grow, by looking at, so tame,They do not even seem the same.And since this theme is […]

From home and city spires, one day,The swallow Progne flew away,And sought the bosky dellWhere sang poor Philomel.“My sister,” Progne said, “how do you do?‘Tis now a thousand years since youHave been conceal’d from human view;I’m sure I have not seen your faceOnce since the times of Thrace.Pray, will you never quit this dull retreat?”“Where […]