'Well, henceforth I'll strive That nothing alive Shall die to quench my thirst; No lambkin shall fall, Nor puppy, at all, To glut my maw accurst. With grass I'll appease, Or browse on the trees, Or die of famine first. 'What of carcass warm? Is it worth the storm Of universal hate?' As he spoke these words, The lords of the herds, All seated at their bait, He saw; and observed The meat which was served Was nought but roasted lamb! 'O! O!' said the beast, 'Repent of my feast-- All butcher as I am-- On these vermin mean, Whose guardians e'en Eat at a rate quadruple!-- Themselves and their dogs, As greedy as hogs, And I, a wolf, to scruple!' 'Look out for your wool I'll not be a fool, The very pet I'll eat; The lamb the best-looking, Without any cooking, I'll strangle from the teat; And swallow the dam, As well as the lamb, And stop her foolish bleat. Old Hornie, too,--rot him,-- The sire that begot him Shall be among my meat!' Well-reasoning beast! Were we sent to feast On creatures wild and tame? And shall we reduce The beasts to the use Of vegetable game? Shall animals not Have flesh-hook or pot, As in the age of gold? And we claim the right, In the pride of our might, Themselves to have and hold? O shepherds, that keep Your folds full of sheep, The wolf was only wrong, Because, so to speak, His jaws were too weak To break your palings strong. [10] Founded upon one of Philibert Hegemon's Fables. [11] _King Edgar put them to rout._--The English king Edgar (reigned 959-75) took great pains in hunting and pursuing wolves; "and," says Hume, "when he found that all that escaped him had taken shelter in the mountains and forests of Wales, he changed the tribute of money imposed on the Welsh princes by Athelstan, his predecessor, into an annual tribute of three hundred heads of wolves; which produced such diligence in hunting them, that the animal has been no more seen in this island."--Hume's _England_, vol. i., p. 99, Bell's edit., 1854. VII.--THE SPIDER AND THE SWALLOW.[12]