Fables of La Fontaine Part 7

A man of middle age, whose hair Was bordering on the grey, Began to turn his thoughts and care The matrimonial way.

By virtue of his ready, A store of choices had he Of ladies bent to suit his taste; On which account he made no haste.

To court well was no trifling art.

Two widows chiefly gain'd his heart; The one yet green, the other more mature, Who found for nature's wane in art a cure.

These dames, amidst their joking and caressing The man they long'd to wed, Would sometimes set themselves to dressing His party-colour'd head.

Each aiming to a.s.similate Her lover to her own estate, The older piecemeal stole The black hair from his poll, While eke, with fingers light, The young one stole the white.

Between them both, as if by scald, His head was changed from grey to bald.

'For these,' he said, 'your gentle pranks, I owe you, ladies, many thanks.

By being thus well shaved, I less have lost than saved.

Of Hymen, yet, no news at hand, I do a.s.sure ye.

By what I've lost, I understand It is in your way, Not mine, that I must pa.s.s on.

Thanks, ladies, for the lesson.'

[22] Phaedrus, II.2: Aesop.

XVIII.--THE FOX AND THE STORK.[23]

Old Mister Fox was at expense, one day, To dine old Mistress Stork.

The fare was light, was nothing, sooth to say, Requiring knife and fork.

That sly old gentleman, the dinner-giver, Was, you must understand, a frugal liver.

This once, at least, the total matter Was thinnish soup served on a platter, For madam's slender beak a fruitless puzzle, Till all had pa.s.s'd the fox's lapping muzzle.

But, little relishing his laughter, Old gossip Stork, some few days after, Return'd his Foxship's invitation.

Without a moment's hesitation, He said he'd go, for he must own he Ne'er stood with friends for ceremony.

And so, precisely at the hour, He hied him to the lady's bower; Where, praising her politeness, He finds her dinner right nice.

Its punctuality and plenty, Its viands, cut in mouthfuls dainty, Its fragrant smell, were powerful to excite, Had there been need, his foxish appet.i.te.

But now the dame, to torture him, Such wit was in her, Served up her dinner In vases made so tall and slim, They let their owner's beak pa.s.s in and out, But not, by any means, the fox's snout!

All arts without avail, With drooping head and tail, As ought a fox a fowl had cheated, The hungry guest at last retreated.

Ye knaves, for you is this recital, You'll often meet Dame Stork's requital.

[23] Phaedrus, I. 26; also in Aesop.

XIX.--THE BOY AND THE SCHOOLMASTER.[24]

Wise counsel is not always wise, As this my tale exemplifies.

A boy, that frolick'd on the banks of Seine, Fell in, and would have found a watery grave, Had not that hand that planteth ne'er in vain A willow planted there, his life to save.

While hanging by its branches as he might, A certain sage preceptor came in sight; To whom the urchin cried, 'Save, or I'm drown'd!'

The master, turning gravely at the sound, Thought proper for a while to stand aloof, And give the boy some seasonable reproof.

'You little wretch! this comes of foolish playing, Commands and precepts disobeying.

A naughty rogue, no doubt, you are, Who thus requite your parents' care.

Alas! their lot I pity much, Whom fate condemns to watch o'er such.'

This having coolly said, and more, He pull'd the drowning lad ash.o.r.e.

This story hits more marks than you suppose.

All critics, pedants, men of endless prose,-- Three sorts, so richly bless'd with progeny, The house is bless'd that doth not lodge any,-- May in it see themselves from head to toes.

No matter what the task, Their precious tongues must teach; Their help in need you ask, You first must hear them preach.

[24] A fable telling this story is in the collection of Arabic fables which bear the name of Locman, or Lokman, a personage some identify with Aesop himself. Lokman is said to have flourished about 1050 B.C.; and even as the "Phrygian slave"--Aesop was said to have been very ugly, so Lokman is described as "an ugly black slave." See Translator's Preface. Rabelais also has a version of the story of this fable, _vide Gargantua_, Book I. ch. xlii.

XX.--THE c.o.c.k AND THE PEARL.[25]

A c.o.c.k scratch'd up, one day, A pearl of purest ray, Which to a jeweller he bore.

'I think it fine,' he said, 'But yet a crumb of bread To me were worth a great deal more.'

So did a dunce inherit A ma.n.u.script of merit, Which to a publisher he bore.

''Tis good,' said he, 'I'm told, Yet any coin of gold To me were worth a great deal more.'

[25] Phaedrus, III. 11.

XXI.--THE HORNETS AND THE BEES.[26]

"The artist by his work is known."-- A piece of honey-comb, one day, Discover'd as a waif and stray, The hornets treated as their own.

Their t.i.tle did the bees dispute, And brought before a wasp the suit.

The judge was puzzled to decide, For nothing could be testified Save that around this honey-comb There had been seen, as if at home, Some longish, brownish, buzzing creatures, Much like the bees in wings and features.

But what of that? for marks the same, The hornets, too, could truly claim.

Between a.s.sertion, and denial, The wasp, in doubt, proclaim'd new trial; And, hearing what an ant-hill swore, Could see no clearer than before.

'What use, I pray, of this expense?'

At last exclaim'd a bee of sense.

'We've labour'd months in this affair, And now are only where we were.

Meanwhile the honey runs to waste: 'Tis time the judge should show some haste.

The parties, sure, have had sufficient bleeding, Without more fuss of scrawls and pleading.

Let's set ourselves at work, these drones and we, And then all eyes the truth may plainly see, Whose art it is that can produce The magic cells, the nectar juice.'

The hornets, flinching on their part, Show that the work transcends their art.

The wasp at length their t.i.tle sees, And gives the honey to the bees.

Would G.o.d that suits at laws with us Might all be managed thus!

That we might, in the Turkish mode, Have simple common sense for code!

They then were short and cheap affairs, Instead of stretching on like ditches, Ingulfing in their course all riches,-- The parties leaving for their shares, The sh.e.l.ls (and sh.e.l.ls there might be moister) From which the court has suck'd the oyster.[27]

[26] Phaedrus, III. 12.

[27] _The court has suck'd the oyster_.--The humorous idea of the lawyers, the litigants, and the oyster, is more fully treated in Fable IX., Book IX.

XXII.--THE OAK AND THE REED.[28]

The oak one day address'd the reed:-- 'To you ungenerous indeed Has nature been, my humble friend, With weakness aye obliged to bend.

The smallest bird that flits in air Is quite too much for you to bear; The slightest wind that wreathes the lake Your ever-trembling head doth shake.