Aesop, in Rhyme by Aesop (best novels to read txt) π
But if twenty for accidents should be detach'd,
It will leave me just sixty sound eggs to hatch'd.
"Well, sixty sound eggs--no; sound chickens, I mean;
Of these some may die--we'll suppose seventeen--
Seventeen!--not so many--say ten at the most,
Which will leave fifty chickens to boil or to roast.
"But then there's their barley; how much will they need?
Why they take but one grain at a time when they feed,
So that's a mere trifle; now then let us see,
At a fair market price, how much money there'll be?
"Six shillings a pair--five--four--three-and-six,
To prevent all mistakes, that low price I will fix;
Now what will that make? fifty chickens, I said,
Fifty times three-and-sixpence--_I'll ask brother Ned_.
"Oh! but stop--three-and-sixpence a _pair_ I must sell 'em; Well, a pair is a couple--now then let us tell 'em;
A couple in fifty will go--(my poor brain!)
Why just a score times, and five pair will remain.
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I hurried to your tent,
And found you sleeping quite content."
MORAL.Which of the two best loved the other?
Here is a thing to ponder on.
A true friend is a precious thing,
And all to aid you he will bring,
But with excess of love the other
In dreams was thinking of his brother.
In a land where stags are many,
One fell sick, and not any
Of all his friends, delayed to come,
To offer aid and consolation,
In his sorrowful situation.
Said he, "My friends, pray let me die
In the right way, nor shed such tears."
Not at all, the consolers,
With many a tear, and many a sigh,
Had come resolved by him to lie;
And when they left they helped themselves
Upon his lands, the greedy elves!
And drank from out his brook,
And every one of them such suppers took,
That when the stag revived,
He found his meals reduced;
So that while his friends had thrived,
He had to fast or die of hunger.
A woodman had broken or misplaced
The wooden handle of his axe,
This loss could not be well replaced.
So master woodman humbly prayed
From all the trees a single branch,
And promised to go elsewhere when he made
Again his livelihood,
And he would touch nor oak nor pine.
The trees which were all very good
Furnished for him new arms,
And soon commenced all their alarms,
And their regret. The axe was mended.
And his repentance all was ended.
The miserable wretch but used it,
E'en as he had before abused it,
By felling down the forest trees,
Which groaned in spirit, and which died,
By arms they had themselves supplied.
MORAL.This is the way the world goes on,
We use our benefits against our benefactors:
I am tired of speaking thereupon,
Till we obtain our wants, we are good actors.
Formerly the elephant and the rhinoceros
Disputing on the light of empire
Resolved to end the combat thusβ
By fighting to their heart's desire.
The day was fixed, when it was heard,
That the monkey of Sire Jupiter
Had been seen in the air,
Poised on a cloud like any bird.
The elephant was quite convinced
That to arrange the new election,
An interest the god evinced,
And felt for him a great affection,
He went to see the monkey's highness,
Expecting him to speak about the fight,
But not a word said monkey.
At this sight,
The elephant perceived that he must speak himself,
And so began: "Sire Jupiter," said he,
"Between rhinoceros and me will see
A royal combat of legation;
A tournament for all the nation.
I suppose you have already heard
This news!" Said monkey, "Not a word."
The elephant ashamed, and quite surprised,
Looked on the monkey with astonished eyes.
Said monkey, "In celestial place,
A fly or leopard are of equal race."
"Was it not then because of us,"
Said elephant, "that you descended?"
"Nay," said the monkey, quite offended.
"I left the heavens to share a grain of corn
Among some ants, nor knew that you were born.
We have the care of mortal things;
But all are equals in our eyes,
And at your talk I feel surprise."
A woodman was toiling, all covered with dust,
But reach home with his faggot ere night he must,
Panting and weary he walks quite slow,
How to get home he does not know.
At last quite exhausted with toil and trouble,
With the weight of the burden and his years, bent double.
He puts down his faggot, and thinks of his pains,
What is his work, and what are his gains,
How since he came into this weary world,
By the wheels of blind fortune around he's been twirled.
Was he not poor, a wood cutter, at best,
Oft without bread, always without rest.
He thinks of his wife, his children, his taxes,
At last quite warm with the subject he waxes.
He calls on death; who comes without delay,
The woodman, in terror, knows not what to say.
Death asks what to do the man wishes he should.
"Oh, help me," he said, "with this faggot of wood.
My poor bones ache, and my limbs they crack.
So help me to put it upon my back."
A rat who lived in the field,
A rat of little wit,
Once grew tired of his father's house,
And quietly left it.
He left the field, the grain and wheat,
Set out to travel, left his hole,
And just as soon as he was out,
"How large and spacious on the whole
Is this great country spread about.
Here are the Apeninnes, and there Caucasus."
The smallest mole hill is a mountain.
At the end of some days our traveller arrives
At a certain canton where every oyster thrives,
And our famed traveller turned very pale,
Thinking he saw great vessels setting sail
"Mercy," said he, "My father was a dunce,
He did not dare to travel even once,
While I have seen already,
The maritime empire,
And travelled to my heart's desire."
From a certain learn'd man,
The rat had heard of such things,
And thinks he has seen all he can.
Among the many oysters closed,
There was one open, which reposed,
Mouth gaping, in the sun,
The learned, travelled man,
The rat, approached, thinking to make
An excellent repast, and began to take
A bite at the fine oyster, plump and fat,
Whereupon closing on our rat,
The oyster caught him tight
And held him with all its might.
MORAL.This fable goes to show,
That those mistake,
Who think that all they know:
When knowing nothing of the world,
Their giddy brain is quickly whirled.
And hence this moral let us make,
That he is caught, who thinks to take.
Dr. So-much-the-worse went out to see
A patient sick as one could be.
His brother So-much-the-better,
Having received an urgent letter,
Came also the sick man to visit.
So-much-the-worse declared he'd die,
So-much-the-better asked him why.
And while their plans they thus discourse,
The sick man died, so much the worse!
So-much-the-better now declared,
That if the sick man had not despaired,
He would have lived. So-much-the-worse
Said, "I was right, agree with me,
Our patient's dead, as you can see."
MORAL.There's wisdom in the saying, by my troth,
Too many cooks will spoil the broth.
A mountain thought to be in labor,
Made such a horrid noise,
That round it each stranger came and neighbor,
Thinking the end of all this noise would be
A city, quite as large as three.
Having drawn all the province round,
The mountain from a little mound,
Let out a mouse.
MORAL.When I think upon this fable,
Of which the narration is false,
And the sense true;
It puts me much in mind
Of authors not a few,
Who boast that they are able
To write on any subject as they please,
And after allβdo nothing.
A man was passionately fond of his cat,
He thought she was pretty, and sleek, and all that;
And she purred in the softest tone,
He wished to make her his own.
This man by prayers, by tears,
By sorcery and charms,
Changed pussy to a woman fair,
And took her in his arms.
But in the wainscot soon a rat
Made itself manifest,
And very soon the pussy cat,
Could still no longer rest.
Her foolish husband who believed
That nothing had of cat remained,
And as his wife had her receivedβ
Was, now, I warrant, somewhat pained.
Next time the vermin came,
Pussy was surer of her gameβ
For having changed her face,
The mice not frightened,
Did not change their paceβ
And the astonished spouse
Was very gladβ
To change her backβ
And was no more cat-mad.
MORAL.What in the bone is born,
Will in the flesh remain,
Both night and morn,
And ne'er come out again.
He who another thinks to injure,
May in the end destroy himself.
A rat who fed exceeding well,
Was by a frog invited out to dine;
"The voyage," said froggy, "will be quickly made,
If you will tie your foot to mine."
Frog vaunted the delight of bathing,
Praised the varieties they'd met upon the way,
And when the rat consented to be tied,
Attempted to bear him away.
The rat half drowned resisted all he could.
The frog, imaged the dinner he would make;
Suddenly, flying from a neighboring wood,
A hawk appeared, and quickly did he take
Both of the combatants up in his bill,
Before they e'en had time to make their will;
And quite delighted did the greedy sinner
Make off of fish and flesh a hearty dinner.
For in the hawk's dominions, fast days
Are never kept.
Now if the frog had acted as he ought,
And had not tried to dine off the poor rat,
They would not both have perished,
To make fat,
A pampered hawk;
And master rat,
Had he not been so curious about
Aquatic government,
Had from the scrape got safely out.
MORAL.A scheme or a conspiracy,
Be it all plotted well
As safe, 'twould seem as it could be,
And sure of all success,
May, none the less,
Entirely fail,
And grand conspirators,
And all bewail,
The day that set them scheming.
A lion by a gad-fly worried,
Half maddened by his sting,
Exclaimed, "Be off, vile flyβ
Mean, pitiful, base thing!"
After the fly had ended his repast,
Fully exhausted feels the beast at last,
And roared so that he shook the earth,
While the victorious fly
Met in the spider's web his destiny.
MORAL.Two morals draw I from this tale:
First, We should fear the smallest enemy;
And second, We may escape great perils,
And from a trifling cause may die.
Two mules went travelling on their way,
One with a sack of corn;
The other with gold and bells so gay,
Most gaily tripped along.
Proud of so rich a load,
He kept the bells a ringingβ
And was so proud, had he known how
He would have commenced singing.
Soon some robbers rude appeared,
Who stopped this mule upon his road,
And very soon they had him cleared
Of all his weight of precious gold.
Falling beneath their blows, "I die,"
The expiring trotter cried,
"Had you been," said the other,
"Low as I, you would not thus have died."
Be moderate when you are high,
Nor glory o'er the passers by.
Jupiter had a farm to let,
Mercury advertised it, and people came,
Made offers, listened, all the same,
Made some objection.
One declared the land
Was rough and dry,
And full of sand.
One had this reason, one had that,
Until at last a man appeared,
Who said he'd try to farm it, agreed that
He might have any weather that he chose.
Behold! as soon as he but yawns, it blows
Or rains, or is quite clear.
His neighbors, even the most near,
Are not affected by these changes.
In usual route, their weather ranges;
They have good crops,
But he had none.
At last when tired, he began
Complaining unto Jupiter.
The next year the same thing,
Changes of weather he can bringβ
And the neighbors no more
Than the Americans,
Are troubled by the farming
Of his lands.
At last tired out, with all his strife in vain,
He yields his power to the God of rain;
Acknowledging, that all along
The god did right,
And he did wrong.
MORAL.Let us conclude that Providence
For man ordains much better than we can.
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