Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/457

Rh be Worted. The Little Lion gave his Father the Hearing, and kept the Advice in his Thought, but it never went near his Heart. When he came to be grown up afterward, and in the Flower of his Strength and. Vigour, About and About he Ranges to look for a Man to Grapple with: In his Ramble he chances to Spy a Yoak of Oxen; o up to ‘em he goes preently; Heark ye Friends, ays he, are yon MEN? They told him No; but their Mater was a Man. Upon leaving the Oxen, he went to a Hore, that he aw Bridled, and Ty'd to a Tree, and ask'd him the ame quetion; No, ays the Hore, I am no Man my Self, but he that Bridled and Saddled me, and ty'd me up here, He's a Man. He goes after this, to one that was Cleaving of Blocks. Dye hear, fays the Lion, You eem to be a ''Man. And a Man I am'', ays the Fellow. That's well, quoth the Lion, and dare you Fight with Me? Yes, ays the Man, I dare Fight with ye: VVhy I can Tear all thee Blocks to Pieces ye ee. Put your Feet now into this Gap, where you ee an Iron Thing there, and try what you can do. The Lion preently put his Claws into the Gaping of the Wood, and with One Luty Pluck, made it give way, and out drops the Wedge, the Wood immediately Cloing upon't; and there was the Lion caught by the Toes. The Woodman preently upon this, Raies the Country, and the Lion finding what a Streight he was in, gave one Hearty Twitch, and got his Feet out of the Trap, but left his Claws Behind him. So away he goes back to his Father, all Lame and Bloody, with this Confeion in his Mouth; Alas, my Dear Father, fays he, This had never been, if I had follow'd your Advice.

People are not to Reaon upon Obedience to Parents, and Submiion to Governors, provided there be nothing in the Command, or in the Impoition that is imply Evil. Reaon in Man, does abundantly upply the Defect of other Faculties wherein we are Inferior to Beats; and what we cannot compas by Force, we bring about by Stratagem. The Intent of this Fable, is to et forth the Excellency of Man above all Creatures upon the Earth; and to hew that he is Lord and Ruler over all the ret; their Teeth, Claws, Stings, and other means of Offence, notwithftanding. The Young Lion himelf is Charg’d by his Sire not to