VIII. The Wolf and Crane

VII. The Fox and the Tragic Mask.

A Fox beheld a Mask— “O rare

The headpiece, if but brains were there!”

This holds—whene’er the Fates dispense

Pomp, pow’r, and everything but sense.

Riley

Who for his merit seeks a price

From men of violence and vice,

Is twice a fool—first so declared,

As for the worthless he has cared;

Then after all, his honest aim

Must end in punishment and shame.

A bone the Wolf devour’d in haste,

Stuck in his greedy throat so fast,

That, tortured with the pain, he roar’d,

And ev’ry beast around implored,

That who a remedy could find

Should have a premium to his mind.

A Crane was wrought upon to trust

His oath at length—and down she thrust

Her neck into his throat impure,

And so perform’d a desp’rate cure.

At which, when she desired her fee,

“You base, ungrateful minx,” says he,

“Whom I so kind forbore to kill,

And now, forsooth, you’d bring your bill!”

Riley