Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/143

Rh THE WREN AND THE OWL.

Say, why all birds hate the Wren and the Owl? I will tell you the reason:

Once, heaven's feather'd inhabitants, aping the manners of mortals,

Swore they would make them a monarch. So they all gather'd together:

Great was the noise, and unbounded the strife, and loud the confusion.

Lastly, they all agreed, and every one promised obedience:

He who the highest can soar 'midst the lofty clouds of heaven,

He shall be king, 'Twas said—and each, on pinions ambitious,

Urged his upward flight—but the mightier influence of Phoebus

Depressed them down to earth. Some fluttered in midway regions―

Some were exhausted and fell—some rose aloft like an arrow,

And like an arrow they sunk. Passion and power brought weakness—

Weakness and dire defeat—and all earth's face was covered,