Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/432

 364

With skilful care had trained his dog,

Judged he would better still succeed

With creatures of a nobler breed;

And now the elephantine band

Are trusted to the juggler's hand,

The sum of whose scholastic course

Was beating, starving, fear and force.

The whole he tried—but tried in vain;

A wretched end was all his gain.

The elephants, a generous race,

Scorn to submit to treatment base;

The master storms—their fury boils;

One round him his proboscis coils,

Whirls him through air in direful heat,

And tramples him beneath his feet.

This done; the elephants avenged,

From rage again to mildness changed.

An Indian next the charge obtained,

Whose kind respect their duty gained:

For kind respect was all his art;

And 'twas enough—it won the heart.

The docile troop behind him trod,

Obeyed his glance, and watched his nod.

The prince from thence a lesson took;

And, better than by many a book,

Was taught the sole successful art

Of governing a generous heart.

(Nivernois, Fables. Cadell translation.)