A mountain was in travail pang; The country with her clamour rang. Out ran the people all, to see, Supposing that the birth would be A city, or at least a house. It was a mouse! ...
A mouse once from an owl's beak fell; I'd not have pick'd it up, I wis; A Brahmin did it: very well; Each country has its prejudice. The mouse, indeed, was sadly bruised....
A prelate's mule of noble birth was proud, And talk'd, incessantly and loud, Of nothing but his dam, the mare, Whose mighty deeds by him recounted were, -...
THE Lombard princes oft pervade my mind; The present tale Boccace relates you'll find; Agiluf was the noble monarch's name; Teudelingua he married, beauteous dame,...
NO easy matter 'tis to hold, Against its owner's will, the fleece Who troubled by the itching smart Of Cupid's irritating dart, Eager awaits some Jason bold To grant release....
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...
A young and inexperienced mouse Had faith to try a veteran cat, - Raminagrobis, death to rat, And scourge of vermin through the house, - Appealing to his clemency With reasons sound and fair....
All power is feeble with dissension: For this I quote the Phrygian slave.[2] If aught I add to his invention, It is our manners to engrave, And not from any envious wishes; -...
An old man, riding on his ass, Had found a spot of thrifty grass, And there turn'd loose his weary beast. Old Grizzle, pleased with such a feast, Flung up his heels, and caper'd round,...
A man was planting at fourscore. Three striplings, who their satchels wore, 'In building,' cried, 'the sense were more; But then to plant young trees at that age!...
OFT have I seen in wedlock with surprise, That most forgot from which true bliss would rise When marriage for a daughter is designed, The parents solely riches seem to mind;...
A beldam kept two spinning maids, Who plied so handily their trades, Those spinning sisters down below Were bunglers when compared with these. No care did this old woman know...
That man his Maker can deceive, Is monstrous folly to believe. The labyrinthine mazes of the heart Are open to His eyes in every part. Whatever one may do, or think, or feel,...
Two pilgrims on the sand espied An oyster thrown up by the tide. In hope, both swallow'd ocean's fruit; But ere the fact there came dispute. While one stoop'd down to take the prey,...
One day two pilgrims espied upon the sands of the shore an oyster that had been thrown up by the tide. They devoured it with their eyes whilst pointing at it with their fingers; but whose teeth should deal with it was a matter ...
A FAMOUS painter, jealous of his wife; Whose charms he valued more than fame or life, When going on a journey used his art, To paint an ASS upon a certain part, (Umbilical, 'tis said) and like a seal:...
With a set of uncivil and turbulent cocks, That deserved for their noise to be put in the stocks, A partridge was placed to be rear'd. Her sex, by politeness revered,...
A trading Greek, for want of law, Protection bought of a pashaw; And like a nobleman he paid, Much rather than a man of trade - Protection being, Turkish-wise,...
The peacock[2] to the queen of heaven Complain'd in some such words: - 'Great goddess, you have given To me, the laughing-stock of birds, A voice which fills, by taste quite just,...