Aesop, in Rhyme - Aesop (best book club books of all time txt) 📗
- Author: Aesop
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"Come on," says Phebus, "let us see
Who best succeeds, or you or me."
The wind to blow so fierce began,
He almost had upset his man;
But still his cloak, for all his roar,
Was wrapp'd more closely than before.
When Boreas what he could had done,
"Now for my trial," says the Sun,
And with his beams so warm'd the air,
The man his mantle could not bear,
But open'd first, then threw aside.
Learn hence, unbending sons of pride
Persuasive manners will prevail,
When menaces and bluster fail.
Forc'd on a stream to make their way,
To pot of brass says pot of clay:
"Since brass is stout and clay is frail,
Pray let us at a distance sail.
Not your intention that I fear
Sir Brass," adds humble Earthenware,
"While the winds leave you to yourself;
But woe betide my ribs of delf,
If it should dash our sides together;
For mine would be the damage, whether
Their force should you or I impel;
To pray proceed, and fare you well."
Learn hence, ye folks of low estate,
To keep due distance from the great.
His cart bemired, a carter pray'd
To Hercules to come and aid.
"Up!" says the God, "thou lazy dog.
And lift the axle from the bog;
Think'st thou Gods nothing have to do
But listen to such knaves as you?"
From a wise emmet, well sustain'd
On what her industry had gain'd,
A grasshopper some aid desir'd.
"What was his trade?" the ant inquir'd.
"I've none," the grasshopper replied;
"I range the country far and wide,
Singing all day from door to door,
And have no time to form a store."
Shutting her granaries, says the ant,
"No wonder, friend, you are in want;
He who all summer sings, may chance
In winter to be forc'd to dance."
To spend his time in idle song,
The thoughtless grasshopper was wrong;
And not to give a small supply,
The emmet mean and niggardly.
Patience and ingenuity
The want of natural means supply.
A thirsty crow some water found,
But in a vessel so profound,
That with her neck at utmost stretch,
A single drop she could not reach.
Then stones she in the pitcher places,
Which to the top the water raises;
And by this innocent device
Her thirst at leisure satisfies.
An angler a small salmon caught,
Who with much earnestness besought
That he would let her go: says she,
"What can you do with such as me!
Next year when grown a little bigger,
I in your bag might make a figure."
The prudent man replied, "No, no;
Into my pouch, though small, you go.
A bird in hand is better far,
Than two that in the bushes are."
Let us our own defects amend,
Ere to guide others we pretend.
A sallow, wrinkl'd, spotted frog,
To turn physician left the bog.
"He every malady could cure,"
He said, "that animals endure."
"First on yourself your science show,"
Says Reynard: "that the world may know
Your skill and knowledge, pray begin
Of those foul spots to clear your skin:
For while you look so sick and pale,
To vend your drugs you'll ne'er prevail."
An ape had cubs; one much she lov'd,
The other small affection prov'd.
Alarm'd, she hears the hunter's cries;
And catching up her darling flies:
Through fear she stumbled o'er some stones
And broke the little favorite's bones;
The other to her back who clung
Uninjured went with her along.
Mothers, beware! the fondl'd child
By too much tenderness is spoil'd;
While those who hardships have endur'd,
To suffer life are best inur'd.
The lowly and contented state
Is farthest from the wounds of fate.
A fir tree upon a humble thorn
From his high top look'd down with scorn.
"For loftiest fanes we grow," she said,
"Of us the tallest masts are made,
While thou, poor bramble, canst produce
Nothing of ornament or use."
"Great tree," the modest thorn replied,
"When the sharp axe shall pierce your side,
In vain you then may wish to be
Unsought-for, and unknown like me."
Fools may on other fools impose;
The sage their real value knows.
An ass once found a lion's skin,
And rolling up himself therein,
From every fold that he came nigh,
Made flocks, and herds, and shepherds fly.
Ranging the country round, at last
He meets his master where he pass'd,
Who long-ears instantly descries
Through his magnificent disguise:
Laying his cudgel on his side,
"Get home, thou stupid fool," he cried:
"With others for a lion pass;
I know thee for an arrant ass."
A mastiff in a stable lay,
Couch'd on a manger full of hay.
When any thing drew near to eat,
He quickly forced it to retreat.
An ox then cried, "detested creature,
How vile is thy malignant nature,
Which will not others let enjoy
That which thou never canst employ!"
A stag pursued with horn and hound
In a thick vineyard shelter found.
Soon as he thought the danger past,
He on the vine began to feast.
The huntsman hears the rustling noise,
And through half-eaten leaves descries
His branching horns, the pack recalls,
And merited the creature falls
To his ingratitude a prey.
Those their protectors who betray,
Unpitying, all the world will see
Consign'd to death and infamy.
Titles and ribands, bought with shame,
Folly and vice but more proclaim.
A man who own'd a vicious dog,
Upon his collar fix'd a log,
Which the vain cur supposed to be
A note of worth and dignity.
A mastiff saw his foolish pride;
"Puppy," indignantly he cried,
"That thing is put about your neck
Your mischievous designs to check;
And to who see you to declare,
Of what a currish race you are."
Woe to the land where those who guide,
To please the people's foolish pride,
Persuade them there is nought to dread,
When ruin threatens o'er their head.
A patient, ask'd to tell his pains,
Of thirst and shivering cold complains.
"'Tis very good," the doctor said;
"He has but to remain in bed,
And take the med'cines I shall send,
The thing will soon be at an end."
When next the question was repeated,
The man complain'd he much was heated;
"This," cried the leech, "is better still!"
And thus to each increasing ill,
"That it was going well," he cried,
Till the poor martyr sunk and died.
Work, work, my boys, with hand and mind!
Your labors you will fruitful find.
A husbandman, about to die,
Call'd on his children to come nigh:
"I leave," he says, "a small estate,
But wherewithal to make it great:
For know, a treasure it contains,
If you to search will take the pains."
He died. The sons dug all the ground,
And there no hidden treasure found;
But so productive was the soil,
The crop by far o'erpaid the toil.
Says one, when they the corn had sold,
"This treasure 'twas our sire foretold!"
Those who of guides stand most in need,
Are least inclin'd advice to heed.
A travell'd swallow, learn'd and wise,
To all his feather'd neighbors cries:
"See you yon laborers there below;
What is it, think ye, that they sow?
'Tis hemp, my friends; of which are made
The nets that for us all are laid;
The moment yonder men are gone,
Then pick the seeds up one by one."
The gay inhabitants of air
For his precaution little care.
The seedling sprung; again the swallow
Urges his good advice to follow;
Again his counsel they deride.
The plants full grown, and cut, and dried,
Beaten and spun, the nets were made,
And the unwary birds betray'd,
Regretting, in their hapless fate,
Their incredulity too late.
Learn hence the danger to foresee,
Nor wait for their maturity.
A fellow who abroad had been,
Told marvels he had done and seen:
"When resident at Rhodes," he said,
"A leap of twenty yards he made
Over a barrier ten feet high;
A dozen witnesses were by."
"Come on," says one, at the same table,
"Yon ditch and fence to o'erleap you're able.
They're not, by much, so high or wide;
Here let the experiment be tried.
Suppose yourself at Rhodes, and we
Your faithful witnesses will be."
The man replied, "that he to-day
Was not quite well," and stole away.
Who boast of what they cannot do
Both knavery and folly show.
Better known evils to endure,
Than seek by wrong a doubtful cure.
A thrifty dame her maids awoke
At the first crowing of the cock.
They of such early rising tir'd,
To kill the harmless cock conspir'd.
The dame, to hear him crow in wait,
Next morning lay in bed till eight.
But when she knew the trick they had play'd,
She caused a larum to be made,
And rung it daily in their ears
Two hours before the dawn appears.
Insidious sloth her object gains,
If but a hearing she obtains.
A youth ask'd why so long in bed?
"I listen to a cause," he said;
"As soon as I unclose my eyes.
First industry excites to rise."
"Up, up," she says, "to meet the sun,
Your task of yesterday's undone!"
"Lie still," cries sloth, "it is not warm,
An hour's more sleep can do no harm;
You will have time your work to do,
And leisure for amusement too."
Fair weather sailors, keep at home,
For be assur'd the storm will come.
A shepherd of an inland breed
Brought to the coast his flocks to feed;
The beauty of a summer sea,
A merchant tempted him to be.
He sold his sheep, and with the sale
Purchas'd of dates an ample bale.
He sail'd; a furious tempest rose;
Into the sea his dates he throws;
And swimming from the bark to land,
Arrives half dead upon the strand.
To one, soon afterwards who stood
Pleas'd with the calmness of the flood,
"Aye, aye," the simple shepherd said
"With dates again it would be fed."
A fool who all had thrown away,
When wandering pennyless one day,
Perceived a swallow. "Ho," says he,
"Summer is come at last I see!"
And to a Jew his mantle sold.
Next day it was severely cold:
Starv'd as he walk'd, the bird he found
Frozen to death upon the ground.
"Ah! what a fool was I," he cried,
"When on one swallow I relied!"
Those who too readily believe,
For their credulity may grieve.
The wise well know their force to weigh,
Nor what they cannot do, essay.
A carrion crow an eagle saw
Seize on a lamb with beak and claw.
Conceiving he could better do,
He pounces on a well fed ewe;
But he and not the sheep was caught;
For when to fly
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