Fables for the Frivolous/The Domineering Eagle and the Inventive Bratling
THE DOMINEERING EAGLE
AND
THE INVENTIVE BRATLING
THE DOMINEERING EAGLE
AND
THE INVENTIVE BRATLING
O'er a small suburban borough Once an eagle used to fly, Making observations thorough From his station in the sky, And presenting the appearance Of an animated V, Like the gulls that lend coherence Unto paintings of the sea.
Looking downward at a church in This attractive little shire, He beheld a smallish urchin Shooting arrows at the spire; In a spirit of derision, "Look alive!" the eagle said; And, with infinite precision, Dropped a feather on his head.
Then the boy, annoyed distinctly By the freedom of the bird, Voiced his anger quite succinctly In a single scathing word; And he sat him on a barrow, And he fashioned of this same Eagle's feather such an arrow As was worthy of the name.
Then he tried his bow, and, stringing It with caution and with care, Sent that arrow singing, winging Towards the eagle in the air. Straight it went, without an error, And the target, bathed in blood, Lurched, and lunged, and fell to terra Firma, landing with a thud.
"Bird of freedom," quoth the urchin, With an unrelenting frown,"You shall decorate a perch in The menagerie in town;But of feathers quite a cluster I shall first remove for Ma;Thanks to you, she'll have a duster For her precious objets d'art."
And the moral is that pride is The precursor of a fall.Those beneath you to deride is Not expedient at all.Howsoever meek and humble Your inferiors may be,They perchance may make you tumble, So respect them. Q. E. D.