Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/414



348

The flavour of this species was so nice!"

Alas, to that peculiar zest

The other Sparrow fell a sacrifice!

(La Fontaine, Fables, Vol. XII, No. 2. Translated by Paul Hookham.)

AN CUPID'S all a mystery—

His Arrows, Quiver, Torch and Infancy;

'Tis not the study of an hour

Can trace the secrets of his power;

Nor to unwind the tangle do I boast;

My humble Muse can tell at most

How the small God by chance unkind

Came to be blind.

Whether for men this proved a curse or blessing

Is matter for a Lover's guessing.

Love with Folly on a day

Passed in sport the time away;

He had not then in any wise

Lost the use of his bright eyes,

But a quarrel rose and Love

Would have moved the courts above

To settle it in legal fashion;

But Folly in a fit of passion

Dealt him a blow of such despite

As plunged his pretty eyes in night.

Venus raged to see the cruel