XXII. The Man and the Weasel

A Weasel, by a person caught,

And willing to get off, besought

The man to spare. “Be not severe

On him that keeps your pantry clear

Of those intolerable mice.”

“This were,” says he, “a work of price,

If done entirely for my sake,

And good had been the plea you make:

But since, with all these pains and care,

You seize yourself the dainty fare

On which those vermin used to fall,

And then devour the mice and all,

Urge not a benefit in vain.”

This said, the miscreant was slain.

The satire here those chaps will own,

Who, useful to themselves alone,

And bustling for a private end,

Would boast the merit of a friend.

Riley