THE TORRENT AND THE RIVER, Fables, La Fontaine

XXIII.--THE TORRENT AND THE RIVER

With mighty rush and roar,
Adown a mountain steep
A torrent tumbled,--swelling o'er
Its rugged banks,--and bore
Vast ruin in its sweep.
The traveller were surely rash
To brave its whirling, foaming dash,
But one, by robbers sorely press'd,
Its terrors haply put to test.
They were but threats of foam and sound,
The loudest where the least profound.
With courage from his safe success,
His foes continuing to press,
He met a river in his course:
On stole its waters, calm and deep,
So silently they seem'd asleep,
All sweetly cradled, as I ween,
In sloping banks, and gravel clean,--
They threaten'd neither man nor horse.
Both ventured; but the noble steed,
That saved from robbers by his speed,
From that deep water could not save;
Both went to drink the Stygian wave;
Both went to cross, (but not to swim,)
Where reigns a monarch stern and grim,
Far other streams than ours.

Still men are men of dangerous powers;
Elsewhere, 'tis only ignorance that cowers.

THE TORRENT AND THE RIVER, Full Sheet Image Transfer, mixed media

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

 

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THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT Fable, La Fontaine

THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT

A Grasshopper gay

Sang the summer away,

And found herself poor

By the winter's first roar.

Of meat or of bread,

Not a morsel she had!

So a begging she went,

To her neighbour the ant,

For the loan of some wheat,

Which would serve her to eat,

Till the season came round.

'I will pay you,' she saith,

'On an animal's faith,

Double weight in the pound

Ere the harvest be bound.'

The ant is a friend

(And here she might mend)

Little given to lend.

'How spent you the summer?'

Quoth she, looking shame

At the borrowing dame.

'Night and day to each comer

I sang, if you please.'

'You sang! I'm at ease;

For 'tis plain at a glance,

Now, ma'am, you must dance.'

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FROG AND RAT, Fable from La Fontaine

The Frog and the Rat

They to bamboozle are inclined,

Says Merlin, who bamboozled are.

The word, though rather unrefined,

Has yet an energy we ill can spare;

So by its aid I introduce my tale.

A well-fed rat, rotund and hale,

Not knowing either Fast or Lent,

Disporting round a frog-pond went.

A frog approached, and, with a friendly greeting,

Invited him to see her at her home,

And pledged a dinner worth his eating,

To which the rat was nothing loath to come.

Of words persuasive there was little need:

She spoke, however, of a grateful bath;

Of sports and curious wonders on their path;

Of rarities of flower, and rush, and reed:

One day he would recount with glee

To his assembled progeny

The various beauties of these places,

The customs of the various races,

And laws that sway the realms aquatic,

(She did not mean the hydrostatic!)

One thing alone the rat perplexed,

He was but moderate as a swimmer.

The frog this matter nicely fixed

By kindly lending him her

Long paw, which with a rush she tied

To his; and off they started, side by side.

Arrived on the lakelet's brink,

There was but little time to think.

The frog leaped in, and almost brought her

Bound guest to land beneath the water.

Perfidious breach of law and right!

She meant to have a supper warm

Out of his sleek and dainty form.

Already did her appetite

Dwell on the morsel with delight.

The gods, in anguish, he invokes;

His faithless hostess rudely mocks;

He struggles up, she struggles down.

A kite, that hovers in the air,

Inspecting everything with care,

Now spies the rat belike to drown,

And, with a rapid wing,

Upbears the wretched thing,

The frog, too, dangling by the string!

The joy of such a double haul

Was to the hungry kite not small.

It gave him all that he could wish

A double meal of flesh and fish.

The best contrived deceit

Can hurt its own contriver,

And perfidy does often cheat

Its author's purse of every stiver.

Jean de La Fontaine

Book 4, Fable 11 

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ELEPHANT AND APE OF JUPITER Fables of La Fontaine

XXI.--THE ELEPHANT AND THE APE OF JUPITER. 

'Twixt elephant and beast of horned nose

About precedence a dispute arose,

Which they determined to decide by blows.

The day was fix'd, when came a messenger

To say the ape of Jupiter

Was swiftly earthward seen to bear

His bright caduceus through the air.

This monkey, named in history Gill,

The elephant at once believed

A high commission had received

To witness, by his sovereign's will,

The aforesaid battle fought.

Uplifted by the glorious thought,

The beast was prompt on Monsieur Gill to wait,

But found him slow, in usual forms of state,

His high credentials to present.

The ape, however, ere he went,

Bestow'd a passing salutation.

His excellency would have heard

The subject matter of legation:

But not a word!

His fight, so far from stirring heaven,--

The news was not received there, even!

What difference sees the impartial sky

Between an elephant and fly?

Our monarch, doting on his object,

Was forced himself to break the subject.

'My cousin Jupiter,' said he,

'Will shortly, from his throne supreme,

A most important combat see,

For all his court a thrilling theme.'

'What combat?' said the ape, with serious face.

'Is't possible you should not know the case?--'

The elephant exclaim'd--'not know, dear sir,

That Lord Rhinoceros disputes

With me precedence of the brutes?

That Elephantis is at war

With savage hosts of Rhinocer?

You know these realms, not void of fame?'

'I joy to learn them now by name,'

Return'd Sir Gill, 'for, first or last,

No lisp of them has ever pass'd

Throughout our dome so blue and vast.'

Abash'd, the elephant replied,

'What came you, then, to do?--'

'Between two emmets to divide

A spire of grass in two.

We take of all a care;

And, as to your affair,

Before the gods, who view with equal eyes

The small and great, it hath not chanced to rise.' 

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EARTH KETTLE and IRON KETTLE, Antique French Fables, Image transfer downloads

Full sheet single image collage sheets from Shorn Sheep.

Antique French illustrations, Fables of La Fontaine

The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot

(Recueil 1, Livre 5, Fable 2)

An iron pot proposed

To an earthen pot a journey.

The latter was opposed,

Expressing the concern he

Had felt about the danger

Of going out a ranger.

He thought the kitchen hearth

The safest place on earth

For one so very brittle.

"For you, who art a kettle,

And have a tougher skin,

There's nothing to keep you in."

"I'll be your bodyguard,"

Replied the iron pot;

"If anything that's hard

Should threaten you a jot,

Between you I will go,

And save you from the blow."

This offer him persuaded.

The iron pot paraded

Himself as guard and guide

Close at his cousin's side.

Now, in their tripod way,

They hobble as they may;

And eke together bolt

At every little jolt,

Which gives the crockery pain;

But presently his comrade hits

So hard, he dashes him to bits,

Before he can complain.

Take care that you associate

With equals only, lest your fate

Between these pots should find its mate.

Jean de La Fontaine

Book 5, Fable 2

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