FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152  
153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   >>   >|  
most impertinent.' _30 The hovering insect thus complained: 'Am I then slighted, scorned, disdained? Can such offence your anger wake? 'Twas beauty caused the bold mistake. Those cherry lips that breathe perfume, That cheek so ripe with youthful bloom, Made me with strong desire pursue The fairest peach that ever grew.' 'Strike him not, Jenny,' Doris cries, 'Nor murder wasps like vulgar flies: _40 For though he's free (to do him right) The creature's civil and polite.' In ecstacies away he posts; Where'er he came, the favour boasts; Brags how her sweetest tea he sips, And shows the sugar on his lips. The hint alarmed the forward crew; Sure of success, away they flew. They share the dainties of the day, Round her with airy music play; _50 And now they flutter, now they rest, Now soar again, and skim her breast. Nor were they banished, till she found That wasps have stings, and felt the wound. * * * * * FABLE IX. THE BULL AND THE MASTIFF. Seek you to train your fav'rite boy? Each caution, every care employ: And ere you venture to confide, Let his preceptor's heart be tried: Weigh well his manners, life, and scope; On these depends thy future hope. As on a time, in peaceful reign, A bull enjoyed the flowery plain, A mastiff passed; inflamed with ire, His eye-balls shot indignant fire; _10 He foamed, he raged with thirst of blood Spurning the ground the monarch stood, And roared aloud, 'Suspend the fight; In a whole skin go sleep to-night: Or tell me, ere the battle rage, What wrongs provoke thee to engage? Is it ambition fires thy breast, Or avarice that ne'er can rest? From these alone unjustly springs The world-destroying wrath of kings.' _20 The surly mastiff thus returns: 'Within my bosom glory burns. Like heroes of eternal name, Whom poets sing, I fight for fame. The butcher's spirit-stirring mind To daily war my youth inclined; He trained me to heroic deed; Taught me to conquer, or to bleed.' 'Cursed dog,' the bull replied, 'no more I wonder at thy thirst of gore; _30 For thou, beneath a butcher trained, Whose hands with cruelty are stained; His daily murders in thy view, Must, like thy tutor, blood pursue. Take then thy fate.' With goring wound, At once he lifts him from the ground; Aloft the sprawling
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152  
153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
ground
 

pursue

 

breast

 

butcher

 

trained

 
mastiff
 
thirst
 

flowery

 
enjoyed
 

wrongs


avarice

 

peaceful

 
ambition
 

engage

 
provoke
 

passed

 
Suspend
 
roared
 

Spurning

 

foamed


monarch

 

indignant

 

inflamed

 

battle

 

beneath

 

cruelty

 

Cursed

 

replied

 

stained

 

sprawling


goring

 
murders
 

conquer

 

Taught

 

Within

 
returns
 

heroes

 
springs
 

unjustly

 
destroying

eternal
 

inclined

 
heroic
 
stirring
 

spirit

 

murder

 
vulgar
 

fairest

 
Strike
 

boasts