For 'tis the pink of falconry. The captor pierced the courtier crowd, With zeal and sweat, as if for life; Of such a princely present proud, His hopes of fortune sprang full rife; When, slap, the savage made him feel His talons, newly arm'd with steel, By perching on his nasal member, As if it had been senseless timber. Outshriek'd the wight; but peals of laughter, Which threaten'd ceiling, roof, and rafter, From courtier, page, and monarch broke: Who had not laugh'd at such a joke? From me, so prone am I to such a sin, An empire had not held me in. I dare not say, that, had the pope been there, He would have join'd the laugh sonorous; But sad the king, I hold, who should not dare To lead, for such a cause, in such a chorus. The gods are laughers. Spite of ebon brows, Jove joints the laugh which he allows. As history saith, the thunderer's laugh went up When limping Vulcan served the nectar cup. Whether or not immortals here are wise, Good sense, I think, in my digression lies. For, since the moral's what we have in view, What could the falconer's fate have taught us new? Who does not notice, in the course of things, More foolish falconers than indulgent kings? [21] Bidpaii. [22] _Prince de Conti_.--This was Francis-Louis, Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and de Conti, another of La Fontaine's great friends at court. He was born in Paris, 1664, and died in 1709. [23] _Would Hymen dwell_.--An allusion to the marriage of the Prince with Marie-Thérèsa de Bourbon (Mdlle. de Blois, the daughter of the King and La Vallière), which took place in 1688. XIII.--THE FOX, THE FLIES, AND THE HEDGEHOG.[24]