Declared, with very serious face, That years of his most painful toil Had clothed with Ceres' gifts our soil-- Her gifts to men--but always sold To beasts for higher cost than gold; And that for this, for his reward, More blows than thanks return'd his lord; And then, when age had chill'd his blood, And men would quell the wrath of Heaven, Out must be pour'd the vital flood, For others' sins, all thankless given. So spake the ox; and then the man:-- 'Away with such a dull declaimer! Instead of judge, it is his plan To play accuser and defamer.' A tree was next the arbitrator, And made the wrong of man still greater. It served as refuge from the heat, The showers, and storms which madly beat; It grew our gardens' greatest pride, Its shadow spreading far and wide, And bow'd itself with fruit beside: But yet a mercenary clown With cruel iron chopp'd it down. Behold the recompense for which, Year after year, it did enrich, With spring's sweet flowers, and autumn's fruits, And summer's shade, both men and brutes, And warm'd the hearth with many a limb Which winter from its top did trim! Why could not man have pruned and spared, And with itself for ages shared?-- Much scorning thus to be convinced, The man resolved his cause to gain. Quoth he, 'My goodness is evinced By hearing this, 'tis very plain;' Then flung the serpent bag and all, With fatal force, against a wall. So ever is it with the great, With whom the whim doth always run, That Heaven all creatures doth create For their behoof beneath the sun-- Count they four feet, or two, or none. If one should dare the fact dispute, He's straight set down a stupid brute. Now, grant it so,--such lords among, What should be done, or said, or sung? At distance speak, or hold your tongue. [6] Bidpaii. III.--THE TORTOISE AND THE TWO DUCKS.[7]