Page:New poems and variant readings, Stevenson, 1918.djvu/162

142 Here once his line an impious Lybian threw;

And as with tremulous reed his prey he drew,

Straight, the light failed him.

He groped, nor found the prey that he had ta'en.

Now as a warning to the fisher clan

Beside the lake he sits, a beggarman.

Thou, then, while still thine innocence is pure,

Flee swiftly, nor presume to set thy lure;

Respect these fishes, for their friends are great;

And in the waters empty all thy bait.