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JUPITER AND THE MONKEY

BABY-SHOW with prizes Jove decreed

For all the beasts, and gave the choice due heed.
A monkey-mother came among the rest;

A naked, snub-nosed pug upon her breast

She bore, in mother's fashion. At the sight
Assembled gods were moved to laugh outright.
Said she, "Jove knoweth where his prize will fall!
I know my child's the beauty of them all."

THIS fable will a general law attest,

That each one deems that what's his own, is best.

THE MOUSE THAT FELL INTO THE POT

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MOUSE into a lidless broth-pot fell;

Choked with the grease, and bidding life farewell,
He said, "My fill of meat and drink have I
And all good things: 'Tis time that I should die."

THOU art that dainty mouse among mankind,
If hurtful sweets are not by thee declined.

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES

HERE hung some bunches of the purple grape
On a hillside. A cunning fox, agape

THE

For these full clusters, many times essayed
To cull their dark bloom, many vain leaps made.
They were quite ripe, and for the vintage fit;
But when his leaps did not avail a whit,
He journeyed on, and thus his grief composed:-
"The bunch was sour, not ripe, as I supposed."

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THE CARTER AND HERCULES

CARTER from the village drove his wain:

And when it fell into a rugged lane, Inactive stood, nor lent a helping hand; But to that god, whom of the heavenly band He really honored most, Alcides, prayed: "Push at your wheels," the god appearing said, "And goad your team; but when you pray again, Help yourself likewise, or you'll pray in vain."

THE YOUNG COCKS

wo Tanagræan cocks a fight began;

Their spirit is, 'tis said, as that of man:

Of these the beaten bird, a mass of blows,

For shame into a corner creeping goes;

The other to the housetop quickly flew,

And there in triumph flapped his wings and crew
But him an eagle lifted from the roof,
And bore away. His fellow gained a proof
That oft the wages of defeat are best,-
None else remained the hens to interest.

WHEREFORE, O man, beware of boastfulness.
Should fortune lift thee, others to depress,
Many are saved by lack of her caress.

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THE ARAB AND THE CAMEL

N ARAB, having heaped his camel's back,

Asked if he chose to take the upward track
Or downward; and the beast had sense to say

"Am I cut off then from the level way? »

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE SWALLOW

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AR from men's fields the swallow forth had flown,
When she espied amid the woodlands lone

The nightingale, sweet songstress. Her lament Was Itys to his doom untimely sent.

Each knew the other through the mournful strain,
Flew to embrace, and in sweet talk remain.
Then said the swallow, "Dearest, liv'st thou still ?
Ne'er have I seen thee, since thy Thracian ill.
Some cruel fate hath ever come between;
Our virgin lives till now apart have been.
Come to the fields; revisit homes of men;

Come dwell with me, a comrade dear, again,

Where thou shalt charm the swains, no savage brood:
Dwell near men's haunts, and quit the open wood:
One roof, one chamber, sure, can house the two,
Or dost prefer the nightly frozen dew,

And day-god's heat? a wild-wood life and drear?

Come, clever songstress, to the light more near."
To whom the sweet-voiced nightingale replied:-
"Still on these lonesome ridges let me bide;
Nor seek to part me from the mountain glen:-
I shun, since Athens, man, and haunts of men;
To mix with them, their dwelling-place to view,
Stirs up old grief, and opens woes anew."

SOME Consolation for an evil lot

Lies in wise words, in song, in crowds forgot.

But sore the pang, when, where you once were great, Again men see you, housed in mean estate.

THE HUSBANDMAN AND THE STORK

HIN nets a farmer o'er his furrows spead,

THIN

And caught the cranes that on his tillage fed;
And him a limping stork began to pray,
Who fell with them into the farmer's way:
"I am no crane: I don't consume the grain:
That I'm a stork is from my color plain;

A stork, than which no better bird doth live;
I to my father aid and succor give."

The man replied:- "Good stork, I cannot tell
Your way of life: but this I know full well,

I caught you with the spoilers of my seed;

With them, with whom I found you, you must bleed.'

WALK with the bad, and hate will be as strong 'Gainst you as them, e'en though you no man wrong.

THE PINE

OME Woodmen, bent a forest pine to split,

SON

Into each fissure sundry wedges fit,

To keep the void and render work more light.

Out groaned the pine, "Why should I vent my spite
Against the axe which never touched my root,
So much as these cursed wedges, mine own fruit;
Which rend me through, inserted here and there!"

A FABLE this, intended to declare

That not so dreadful is a stranger's blow

As wrongs which men receive from those they know.

THE WOMAN AND HER MAID-SERVANTS

VERY careful dame, of busy way,

A Kept maids at home, and these, ere break of day,

She used to raise as early as cock-crow.
They thought 'twas hard to be awakened so,
And o'er wool-spinning be at work so long;
Hence grew within them all a purpose strong
To kill the house-cock, whom they thought to blame
For all their wrongs. But no advantage came;
Worse treatment than the former them befell:
For when the hour their mistress could not tell
At which by night the cock was wont to crow,
She roused them earlier, to their work to go.
A harder lot the wretched maids endured.

BAD judgment oft hath such results procured.

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THE LAMP

LAMP that swam with oil, began to boast

At eve, that it outshone the starry host,

And gave more light to all. Her boast was heard

Soon the wind whistled; soon the breezes stirred,
And quenched its light. A man rekindled it,
And said, "Brief is the faint lamp's boasting fit,
But the starlight ne'er needs to be re-lit."

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THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

O THE shy hare the tortoise smiling spoke,
When he about her feet began to joke:

"I'll pass thee by, though fleeter than the gale."
"Pooh!" said the hare, "I don't believe thy tale.
Try but one course, and thou my speed shalt know."
"Who'll fix the prize, and whither we shall go?"
Of the fleet-footed hare the tortoise asked.
To whom he answered, "Reynard shall be tasked
With this; that subtle fox, whom thou dost see."
The tortoise then (no hesitater she!)
Kept jogging on, but earliest reached the post;
The hare, relying on his fleetness, lost
Space, during sleep, he thought he could recover
When he awoke. But then the race was over;
The tortoise gained her aim, and slept her sleep.
FROM negligence doth care the vantage reap.

JELIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOI

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS