A picture once was shown,In which one man, alone,Upon the ground had thrownA lion fully grown.Much gloried at the sight the rabble.A lion thus rebuked their babble:–“That you have got the victory there,There is no contradiction.But, gentles, possibly you areThe dupes of easy fiction:Had we the art of making pictures,Perhaps our champion had beat yours!”

A man, whom I shall call an ass-eteer,His sceptre like some Roman emperor bearing,Drove on two coursers of protracted ear,The one, with sponges laden, briskly faring;The other lifting legsAs if he trod on eggs,With constant need of goading,And bags of salt for loading.O’er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass’d,Till, coming to a river’s ford […]

A bird, with plumed arrow shot,In dying case deplored her lot:“Alas!” she cried, “the anguish of the thought!This ruin partly by myself was brought!Hard-hearted men! from us to borrowWhat wings to us the fatal arrow!But mock us not, ye cruel race,For you must often take our place.” The work of half the human brothersIs making […]

A blundering bat once stuck her headInto a wakeful weasel’s bed;Whereat the mistress of the house,A deadly foe of rats and mice,Was making ready in a triceTo eat the stranger as a mouse.“What! do you dare,” she said, “to creep inThe very bed I sometimes sleep in,Now, after all the provocationI’ve suffered from your thievish […]

Two bulls engaged in shocking battle,Both for a certain heifer’s sake,And lordship over certain cattle,A frog began to groan and quake.“But what is this to you?”Inquired another of the croaking crew.“Why, sister, don’t you see,The end of this will be,That one of these big brutes will yield,And then be exiled from the field?No more permitted […]

A braggart, lover of the chase,Had lost a dog of valued race,And thought him in a lion’s maw.He ask’d a shepherd whom he saw,“Pray show me, man, the robber’s place,And I’ll have justice in the case.”“‘Tis on this mountain side,”The shepherd man replied.“The tribute of a sheep I pay,Each month, and where I please I […]

The eagle, through the air a queen,And one far different, I ween,In temper, language, thought, and mien,–The magpie,–once a prairie cross’d.The by-path where they met was drear,And Madge gave up herself for lost;But having dined on ample cheer,The eagle bade her, “Never fear;You’re welcome to my company;For if the king of gods can beFull oft […]

A fox, old, subtle, vigilant, and sly,–By hunters wounded, fallen in the mud,–Attracted by the traces of his blood,That buzzing parasite, the fly.He blamed the gods, and wonder’d whyThe Fates so cruelly should wishTo feast the fly on such a costly dish.“What! light on me! make me its food!Me, me, the nimblest of the wood!How […]

There is an ape in Paris,To which was given a wife:Like many a one that marries,This ape, in brutal strife,Soon beat her out of life.Their infant cries,–perhaps not fed,–But cries, I ween, in vain;The father laughs: his wife is dead,And he has other loves again,Which he will also beat, I think,–Return’d from tavern drown’d in […]

A fox once practised, ’tis believed,A stratagem right well conceived.The wretch, when in the utmost straitBy dogs of nose so delicate,Approach’d a gallows, where,A lesson to like passengers,Or clothed in feathers or in furs,Some badgers, owls, and foxes, pendent were.Their comrade, in his pressing need,Arranged himself among the dead.I seem to see old HannibalOutwit some […]

The sage Levantines have a taleAbout a rat that weary grewOf all the cares which life assail,And to a Holland cheese withdrew.His solitude was there profound,Extending through his world so round.Our hermit lived on that within;And soon his industry had beenWith claws and teeth so good,That in his novel hermitage,He had in store, for wants […]

As went a goat of grass to take her fill,And browse the herbage of a distant hill,She latch’d her door, and bid,With matron care, her kid;“My daughter, as you live,This portal don’t undoTo any creature whoThis watchword does not give:‘Deuce take the wolf and all his race!’”The wolf was passing near the placeBy chance, and […]

Two parts the serpent has–Of men the enemies–The head and tail: the sameHave won a mighty fame,Next to the cruel Fates;–So that, indeed, henceThey once had great debatesAbout precedence.The first had always gone ahead;The tail had been for ever led;And now to Heaven it pray’d,And said,“O, many and many a league,Dragg’d on in sore fatigue,Behind […]

One day,–no matter when or where,–A long-legg’d heron chanced to fareBy a certain river’s brink,With his long, sharp beakHelved on his slender neck;‘Twas a fish-spear, you might think.The water was clear and still,The carp and the pike there at willPursued their silent fun,Turning up, ever and anon,A golden side to the sun.With ease might the […]

The Phaeton who drove a load of hayOnce found his cart bemired.Poor man! the spot was far awayFrom human help–retired,In some rude country place,In Brittany, as near as I can trace,Near Quimper Corentan,–A town that poet never sang,–Which Fate, they say, puts in the traveller’s path,When she would rouse the man to special wrath.May Heaven […]

A countryman, as AEsop certifies,A charitable man, but not so wise,One day in winter found,Stretch’d on the snowy ground,A chill’d or frozen snake,As torpid as a stake,And, if alive, devoid of sense.He took him up, and bore him home,And, thinking not what recompenseFor such a charity would come,Before the fire stretch’d him,And back to being […]

Rejoicing on their tyrant’s wedding-day,The people drown’d their care in drink;While from the general joy did AEsop shrink,And show’d its folly in this way.“The sun,” said he, “once took it in his headTo have a partner: so he wed.From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs,Up rose the wailings of the frogs.“What shall we do, should […]

Left kingless by the lion’s death,The beasts once met, our story saith,Some fit successor to install.Forth from a dragon-guarded, moated place,The crown was brought, and, taken from its case,And being tried by turns on all,The heads of most were found too small;Some horned were, and some too big;Not one would fit the regal gear.For ever […]

Two lean and hungry mastiffs once espiedA dead ass floating on a water wide.The distance growing more and more,Because the wind the carcass bore,–“My friend,” said one, “your eyes are best;Pray let them on the water rest:What thing is that I seem to see?An ox, or horse? what can it be?”“Hey!” cried his mate; “what […]

Lapluck and Caesar brothers were, descendedFrom dogs by Fame the most commended,Who falling, in their puppyhood,To different masters anciently,One dwelt and hunted in the boundless wood;From thieves the other kept a kitchen free.At first, each had another name;But, by their bringing up, it came,While one improved upon his nature,The other grew a sordid creature,Till, by […]