Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/96

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Weazle had eizd upon a Bat, and the Bat begg'd for Life. No, No, ays the Weazle, I give No Quarter to Birds. Ay (ays the Bat) but I'm a Moue you fee; look on my Body ele: and o he got off for That Bout. The ame Bat had the Fortune to be Taken a While after by Another Weazle; and there the Poor Bat was forc'd to beg for Mercy once again. No, ays the Weazle, No Mercy to a Moue. Well (fays 'Tother,) but you may ee by my Wings that I'm a Bird; and o the Bat cap'd in Both Capacities, by Playing the Trimmer.

Pon a Deperate and a Doubtful Battel betwixt the Birds and the Beats, the Bat tood Neuter, 'till he found that the Beats had the Better on't, and then went over to the Stronger ide. But it came to pas afterward (as the Chance of War is Various) that the Birds Rally'd their Broken Troups, and carry'd the Day; and away he went Then to 'Tother Party, where he was Try'd by a Councel of War as a Deerter; Stript, Banih'd, and finally Condemn'd never to ee Daylight again.

He Etriche is a Creature that paes in Common Reputation, for Half-Bird, Half-Beat. This Amphibious Wretch happen'd to be Taken Twice the ame Day, in a Battel betwixt the Birds and the Beats, and as an Enemy to Both Parties. The Birds would have him to be a Beat, and the Beats Concluded him to be a Bird; but upon hewing his Feet to Prove that he was No Bird, and upon hewing his Wings, and his Beak, to prove that he was