A passenger, endanger'd by the sea, Had vow'd a hundred oxen good To him who quell'd old Terra's brood. He had not one: as well might he Have vow'd a hundred elephants. Arrived on shore, his good intents Were dwindled to the smoke which rose An offering merely for the nose, From half a dozen beefless bones. 'Great Jove,' said he, 'behold my vow! The fumes of beef thou breathest now Are all thy godship ever owns: From debt I therefore stand acquitted.' With seeming smile, the god submitted, But not long after caught him well, By sending him a dream, to tell Of treasure hid. Off ran the liar, As if to quench a house on fire, And on a band of robbers fell. As but a crown he had that day, He promised them of sterling gold A hundred talents truly told; Directing where conceal'd they lay, In such a village on their way. The rogues so much the tale suspected, Said one, 'If we should suffer you to, You'd cheaply get us all detected; Go, then, and bear your gold to Pluto.' [17] Aesop. XIV.--THE CAT AND THE FOX. The cat and fox, when saints were all the rage, Together went on pilgrimage. Arch hypocrites and swindlers, they, By sleight of face and sleight of paw, Regardless both of right and law, Contrived expenses to repay, By eating many a fowl and cheese, And other tricks as bad as these. Disputing served them to beguile The road of many a weary mile. Disputing! but for this resort, The world would go to sleep, in short. Our pilgrims, as a thing of course, Disputed till their throats were hoarse. Then, dropping to a lower tone, They talk'd of this, and talk'd of that, Till Renard whisper'd to the cat, 'You think yourself a knowing one: How many cunning tricks have you? For I've a hundred, old and new, All ready in my haversack.' The cat replied, 'I do not lack, Though with but one provided; And, truth to honour, for that matter, I hold it than a thousand better.' In fresh dispute they sided; And loudly were they at it, when Approach'd a mob of dogs and men. 'Now,' said the cat, 'your tricks ransack, And put your cunning brains to rack, One life to save; I'll show you mine-- A trick, you see, for saving nine.' With that, she climb'd a lofty pine. The fox his hundred ruses tried, And yet no safety found. A hundred times he falsified The nose of every hound.-- Was here, and there, and everywhere, Above, and under ground; But yet to stop he did not dare, Pent in a hole, it was no joke, To meet the terriers or the smoke. So, leaping into upper air, He met two dogs, that choked him there.