The Sick Stag, Fable, La Fontaine

Image via Wikipedia

The Sick Stag

 A stag, where stags abounded,

Fell sick, and was surrounded

Forthwith by comrades kind,

All pressing to assist,

Or see, their friend, at least,

And ease his anxious mind

An irksome multitude.

"Ah, sirs!" the sick was fain to cry,

"Pray leave me here to die,

As others do, in solitude.

Pray, let your kind attentions cease,

Till death my spirit shall release."

But comforters are not so sent:

On duty sad full long intent,

When Heaven pleased, they went:

But not without a friendly glass;

That is to say, they cropped the grass

And leaves which in that quarter grew,

From which the sick his pittance drew.

By kindness thus compelled to fast,

He died for want of food at last.

The men take off no trifling dole

Who heal the body, or the soul.

Alas the times! do what we will,

They have their payment, cure or kill.

Jean de La Fontaine

Book 12, Fable 6 

ShornSheep Digital Fable Collection On ArtFire

Footless Mice to Eat at Leisure, Mice and Owl, Fables, La Fontaine

The Mice and the Owl

Beware of saying, "Lend an ear,"

To something marvelous or witty.

To disappoint your friends who hear,

Is possible, and were a pity.

But now a clear exception see,

Which I maintain a prodigy

A thing which with the air of fable,

Is true as is the interest table.

A pine was by a woodman felled,

Which ancient, huge, and hollow tree

An owl had for his palace held

A bird the Fates had kept in fee,

Interpreter to such as we.

Within the caverns of the pine,

With other tenants of that mine,

Were found full many footless mice,

But well provisioned, fat, and nice.

The bird had bit off all their feet,

And fed them there with heaps of wheat.

That this owl reasoned, who can doubt?

When to the chase he first went out,

And home alive the vermin brought,

Which in his talons he had caught,

The nimble creatures ran away.

Next time, resolved to make them stay,

He cropped their legs, and found, with pleasure,

That he could eat them at his leisure;

It were impossible to eat

Them all at once, did health permit.

His foresight, equal to our own,

In furnishing their food was shown.

Now, let Cartesians, if they can,

Pronounce this owl a mere machine.

Could springs originate the plan

Of maiming mice when taken lean,

To fatten for his soup tureen?

If reason did no service there,

I do not know it anywhere.

Observe the course of argument:

These vermin are no sooner caught than gone:

They must be used as soon, it's evident;

But this to all cannot be done.

And then, for future need,

I might as well take heed.

Hence, while their ribs I lard,

I must from their elopement guard.

But how? A plan complete!

I'll clip them of their feet!

Now, find me, in your human schools,

A better use of logic's tools!

On your faith, what different art of thought

Has Aristotle or his followers taught?

Jean de La Fontaine

Book 11, Fable 9

 

Related articles by Zemanta

• what do owls eat? (greenanswers.com)
• Program rehabilitates injured, orphaned baby owls (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The Lobster And Her Daughter, French Fables, La Fontaine

The Lobster And Her Daughter

The wise, sometimes, as lobsters do,

To gain their ends back foremost go.

It is the rower's art; and those

Commanders who mislead their foes,

Do often seem to aim their sight

Just where they don't intend to smite.

My theme, so low, may yet apply

To one whose fame is very high,

Who finds it not the hardest matter

A hundred headed league to scatter.

What he will do, what leave undone,

Are secrets with unbroken seals,

Till victory the truth reveals.

Whatever he would have unknown

Is sought in vain. Decrees of Fate

Forbid to check, at first, the course

Which sweeps at last with torrent force.

One Jove, as ancient fables state,

Exceeds a hundred gods in weight.

So Fate and Louis would seem able

The universe to draw,

Bound captive to their law.

But come we to our fable.

A mother lobster did her daughter chide:

"For shame, my daughter! can't you go ahead?"

"And how go you yourself?" the child replied;

"Can I be but by your example led?

Head foremost should I, singularly, wend,

While all my race pursue the other end."

She spoke with sense: for better or for worse,

Example has a universal force.

To some it opens wisdom's door,

But leads to folly many more.

Yet, as for backing to one's aim,

When properly pursued

The art is doubtless good,

At least in grim Bellona's game.

Jean de La Fontaine

Book 12, Fable 10

The Lobster And Her Daughter, Antique French Fables, Image transfer downloads