Fables of La Fontaine — Fables CCXIX and CCXX
<i>In Answer to a Request for a Fable on "The Cat and the Mouse."
</i> To please the youthful Prince whom courtly fame Destines entempled in my works to be, How shall I write a fable with this name-- <i>Le Chat et la Souris?
</i> ("The Cat and the Mouse."
) How can I represent in verse a maid Who, sweet in aspect, yet still ruthless played With hearts her charms snared, as you see <i>Le petit Chat</i> does <i>la Souris?
</i> Shall I sketch Fortune, and show her deceit?
-- Tell how she gulls the world with the old cheat?
Treating poor self-complacent friends you see <i>Comme le Chat</i> does <i>la Souris?
</i> Shall I depict of all earth's royalty The only one her restless wheel that stays?
The one who wars with Europe's chivalry;
And with the strongest of his foemen plays, <i>Comme le Chat</i> with <i>la Souris?
</i> But as I write, there comes, insensibly, The plan that suits me, if I don't mistake;
I should spoil all if lazy I should be: Mockery the Prince of my poor muse would make, <i>Comme le Chat</i> of <i>la Souris.
</i> FABLE CCXIX.
THE OLD CAT AND THE YOUNG MOUSE.
A young Mouse, small and innocent, Implored an Old Cat's clemency:-- "Raminagrobis, let me live!
Your royal mercy, monarch, give!
A Mouse so little, sir, as I A tiny meal can well supply.
How could I starve a family?
Host, hostess, only look at me;
I fatten on a grain of wheat: A mite my dinner makes complete.
I'm thin, too, now;--just wait a bit, And for your children I'll be fit."
Thus to the Cat the Mouse, aggrieved;
The other answered.
"You're deceived.
Is it to me you talk like that?
Go, tell the deaf and dumb--not me: Old Cats don't pardon, so you'll see.
The law condemns, and you must die: Descend, and tell the Fates that I Have stopped your preaching, and be sure My children's meals will not be fewer."
He kept his word; and to my fable I add a moral, as I'm able: Youth hopes to win all by address;
But age is ever pitiless.
FABLE CCXX.
THE BAT, THE BUSH, AND THE DUCK.
A Bat, a Bush, and Duck, one day, Finding home business would not pay, Resolved their purses to unite, And risks of foreign trade invite.
Soon with factors, counters, agents, And all the merchants' usual pageants, Ledgers, day-books, and all that, Surrounded, they grew rich and fat.
All went on well, till, lucklessly, A cargo, trusted to the sea, And traversing a rock-bound strait, Ill-piloted, endured the fate Of all the other treasures which King Neptune's sea-roofed vaults enrich.
Great cries of grief the trio uttered,-- That is to say, they only muttered: For every little merchant knows That credit loves not traders' woes.
But, spite of every cautious plan, The tale through all the city ran;
And now Duck, Bush, and Bat were seen Ready to wear the bonnet green,[1] Without or credit or resources, For none would ope for them their purses.
All sorts of creditors daily arrived, With bailiffs and writs; and the door scarce survived The continual thrum Of their creditors' glum;
And, of course, the Bush, Bat, and the Duck were intent To find means this importunate crowd to content.
The Bush, with his thorns, caught the men that went by, And said, with a sort of a pitiful cry, "Pray, sirs, can you tell in what part of the sea The wealth of myself and my partners may be?"
Whilst that diver, the Duck, plunging down out of sight, Went to find them, he said, if he possibly might.
But the Bat, followed daily by bailiffs and duns, At noon all the haunts of the human race shuns;
And, stricken with shame, to keep quite out of sight, Hides in ruins all day, and flies only by night.
Many a debtor have I known-- Neither Bush, nor Bat, nor Duck-- Who even had not such ill luck As was upon this trio thrown, But simple lords, who, shunning snares, Sneaked always down by the back stairs.
[1] An allusion to an ancient custom, which allowed debtors to be free of their creditors, if they would wear constantly a green cap; the public disgrace being considered equivalent to a discharge in full.
[Illustration: THE EAGLE AND THE MAGPIE.
]
