Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/514

 442

To most of my readers

I need not explain.

Advice is the brush

I prefer to a Cane.

(Translated from the Polish of Ignace Krasicki.)

THE ASS AND THE LAMB

OW hard is my fate!

&ensp;What sorrows await,"

Said the Ass to the Sheep, "my deplorable state!

Cold, naked, ill-fed,

I sleep in a shed,

And the snow, wind and rain come in over my head.

All this day did I pass

In a yard without grass:—

What a pity that I was created an Ass!

As for Master, he sat

By the fire, with the Cat;

And they both looked as you do, contented and fat.

Your nice coat of wool.

So elastic and full,

Makes you much to be envied,—aye, more than the Bull!"