Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/353

 Rh THE TURKEY AND THE ANT

TURKEY, tired of common food,

Forsook the barn and sought the wood;

Behind her ran her infant train,

Collecting here and there a grain.

"Draw near, my birds," the mother cries,

"This hill delicious fare supplies;

Behold the busy negro race,

See millions blacken all the place!

Fear not; like me, with freedom eat;

An Ant is most delightful meat.

How bless'd, how envied were our life,

Could we but 'scape the polt'rer's knife!

But man, curs'd man, on Turkeys preys,

And Christmas shortens all our days!

Sometimes with oysters we combine,

Sometimes assist the savory chine;

From the low peasant to the lord,

The Turkey smokes upon the board.

Sure, men for gluttony are curs'd,

Of all the sev'n deadly sins the worst."

An Ant, who climbed beyond her reach,

Thus answered from a neighbouring beech:

"Ere you remark another's sin,

Bid thy own conscience look within;

Control thy more voracious bill,

Nor, for a breakfast, nations kill."