Brooke Boothby (3)

Here are some more fables from Brooke Boothby's Fables and Satires, and you can click here for all the Boothby fables at this blog.

The Head and the Tail

That land accurs'd what ills betide,

Where the vile populace preside!

A Serpent's Tail address'd the Head:

"Too long I've followed you," it said,

"Tls now my turn to take the lead."

"Tis well," replied the Head, "proceed!"

The Tail, unus'd, went wrong and slow,

And blind and deaf, got many a blow;

Nor did the Head much better fare,

Condemned its leader's ills to share.

illustration by Billinghurst

The Bird and the Arrow

The feather'd arrow in her side,

A Bird in plaintive accent cried,

''How sad it is the means to lend,

That brings us to a timeless end!"

illustration by Harrison Weir

The Fly

A Fly, upon a chariot pole,

Sees sandy clouds about him roll;

And, puft with self-importance, cries,

"The dust I raise obscures the skies!''

illustration from a 1590 Aesop

The Thief and the Pauper

He to whom fortune nothing gives,

Free from the dread of robbers lives.

A Pauper as he lay in bed,

Overhearing someone in his shed

Groping and searching all about,

Something of value to take out.

Cries, ''What by day I ne'er could see,

To find by night you'll lucky be!"

The Wolf and the Shepherd's Boy

In wantonness a Shepherd's boy

Alarm'd the neighbours with his cry;

"The Wolf! the Wolf!" and, when they came,

Of their lost labour made his game.

At last the Wolf when there indeed,

His real cries they did not heed;

He and his flock a prey were made,

And for his lies he dearly paid.

Those who are known to have deceived,

When they speak truth, are not believ'd.

illustration in Steinhowel's Aesop