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At once confessed

Their minds were with the Dean's.

No better plan, they all believed,

Could possibly have been conceived;

No doubt, the thing would work right well,

If any one would hang the bell.

But, one by one, said every Rat,

"I'm not so big a fool as that."

The plan knocked up in this respect.

The council closed without effect.

And many a council have I seen

Of revered Chapter with its Dean,

That, thus resolving wisely,

Fell through like this precisely.

To argue or refute

Wise counsellors abound;

The man to execute

Is harder to be found.

(La Fontaine, Fables, Vol. II, No. 2. Translated by Elizur Wright.)

BAT in his blind flight.

Rushed headlong into an old Weasel's hole.

Who hated Mice with all his heart and soul,

And straight made at him, furious at the sight.

"What! Have you dared to show your hateful face

Inside my house—