Fables of La Fontaine — Fables CLXXV and CLXXVI

FABLE CLXXV.

THE APE AND THE LEOPARD.

An Ape and a Leopard one day repair-- Money to gain--to a country fair, And setting up separate booths they vie, Each with each, in the arts of cajolery.

"Come, see me," cries Leopard, "come, gentlemen come, The price of admission's a very small sum;

To the great in all places my fame is well known, And should death overtake me, the king on his throne Would be glad of a robe from my skin;

For 'tis mottled and wattled, And stained and ingrained With spots and with lines, lines and spots thick and thin, That truly, though modest, I can but declare, 'Tis by far the most wonderful thing in the fair."

This bounce attained its end, and so The gulls came hurrying to the show;

But, the sight seen, and the cash spent, They went away in discontent.

Meanwhile the Ape cries--"Come, and see The sum of versatility!

Yon Leopard boasts, through thick and thin, A splendid show of outside skin;

But many varied gifts I have (For which your kind applause I crave) All safely lodged my brain within.

Your servant I, Monsieur Guffaw, The noble Bertrand's son-in-law, Chief monkey to his Holiness The Pope.

I now have come express, In three huge ships, to have with you The honour of an interview: For speaking is my special forte, And I can dance, and hoops jump through, And other kinds of tumbling do, And magic feats perform of every sort;

And for six blancos?

no, I say, a sou;

But if with the performance you Are discontented, at the door To each his money we'll restore."

And right was the Ape: For the colour and shape Of fine clothes can but please for awhile, Whilst the charms of a brain That is witty, remain, And for ever can soothe and beguile.

Ah!

there's many a one, Lord and gentleman's son, Who holds high estate here below, Who to Leopards akin Has nought but fine skin As the sum of his merits to show.

FABLE CLXXVI.

THE ACORN AND THE GOURD.

All that Jove does is wise and good, I need not travel far abroad To make this maxim understood, But take example from a Gourd.

Observing once a pumpkin, Of bulk so huge on stem so small, "What meant he," cried a bumpkin, "Great Jove, I mean, who made us all, By such an act capricious?

If my advice were asked by Heaven, To yonder oaks the gourds were given, And 'twould have been judicious;

For sure it is good taste to suit To monstrous trees a monstrous fruit.

And truly, Tony, had but he Whom the priests talk of asked of me Advice on here and there a point, Things would not be so out of joint.

For why, to take this plain example, Should not the Acorn here be hung-- For it this tiny stem is ample-- Whilst on the oak the pumpkin swung?

The more I view this sad abortion Of all the laws of true proportion, The more I'm sure the Lord of Thunder Has made a very serious blunder."

Teased by this matter, Tony cries, "One soon grows weary when one's wise;"

Then dozing 'neath an oak he lies.

Now, as he slept, an Acorn fell Straight on his nose, and made it swell.

At once awake, he seeks to trace With eager hand what hurt his face, And in his beard the Acorn caught, Discovers what the pain had wrought.

And now, by injured nose induced, Our friend takes up a different tone-- "I bleed, I bleed!"

he makes his moan, "And all is by this thing produced: But, oh!

if from the tree, instead, A full-grown Gourd had struck my head!

Ah!

Jove, most wise, has made decree That Acorns only deck the tree, And now I quite the reason see."

Thus in a better frame of mind Homeward went our honest hind.