Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CL

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CL.

An Asse, a Lyon, and a Cock.

AS a Cock and an Asse were Feeding together, up comes a Lion Open-Mouth toward the Asse: The Cock presently cryes out; Away Scoures the Lyon, and the Ass after him: Now ‘twas the Crowing of the Cock that Frighted the Lyon, not the Braying of the Asse as That Stupid Animal Vainly Fancy’d to Himself, for so soon as ever they were gotten out of the Hearing of the Cock, the Lyon turn'd short upon him, and tore him to pieces, with These Words in his Mouth: Let never any Creature hereafter that has not the Courage of a Hare, Provoke a Lyon.

The Moral.

The Force of Unaccountable Aversions, is Insuparable. The Fool that is Wise and Brave Only in his Own Conceit, runs on without Fear or Wit, but Noise does no Bus'ness.

REFLEXION.

Many a Bragging Coxcomb is Ruin'd by a Mistake of Fear in an Enemy, and a Fancy of Courage in Himselfe. Baudoin Remarks upon the Lyons's Aversion to the Cock, that there’s Nothing fo Great, but it has its Failings, and so he makes the Pursuit of the Lyon to be a Particular Mark of the Asses Weaknefs. Meslier will have the Fear to be Counterfeited, with a Design to Surprize the Pursuer; but This Fable seems still to look Another way.

It may appear a very Extravagant, Surprizing Encounter, that Æsop has Exhibited to us in This Fable. Here's a Lyon running away from a Cock, and an Asse Pursuing a Lyon: That is to say, here are Two of the most Unlikely Things in Nature brought together, in the Semblance of Fear in the One, and of Resolution in the Other: But the Moral is never the Worse yet for the Seeming Disproportions of the Figure; and the Characters in the Fiction, are well enough Suited to the Truth, and Life of the Case, The Flight of the Lyon must be Imputed here to the Natural Aversion that he has to the Crowing of a Cock. This is the Tradition; but it shall break No Squares whether it be so or not: For the Philosophy holds good in Other Instances No less Wonderfull, whether it be True or False in This. How many Insuperable Disagreements do we Meet with, in the Bus'ness of Meats, Drinks, and Medicines; in Plants, Minerals, and Living Creatures! Now These Impulses are no more to be Controll'd, then the Primary, and the Unchangeable Powers and Laws of Nature: And These Instincts, after All, are no more to be Reason’d upon, then they are to be Resisted; and therefore it is, that we call them Occult Qualities; which is All One with Saying that we do not Understand how they Work, or What they Are. Now 'tis One Thing to Submit to an Absolute Force, Another thing to Fly and Yield to a Natural Infirmity: So that 'tis No Departure from the Dignity of a Lyon to Fly, when Nature Drives him: Neither is it at all to the Asses Reputation, to Pursue, when Vanity, Folly and Rashness Transport him.

The Asse, we see, lyes under Many Mistakes here, and the More, and the Grosser they are, the more Suitable still to his Character. How many such Asses are there in the World, that Huffe, Look Big, Stare, Dress, Cock, Swagger, at the same Noise-Blustring Rate; and Nothing more Familiar then for a Whiffling Fop, that has not so much as One Grain of the Sense, or Soul of a man of Honour in him, to play the part of a Heroe. Nay there are Fansarons in the Tryals of Witt too, as well as in Feates of Arms, and none so forward to Engage in Arguument, or Discourse, as Those that are least able to go thorough with it. In One Word for All, the whole Race of Bawling, Fluttering Noddyes, by what Name or Title soever Dignify'd or Distinguish’d, are a kin to the Ass in This Fable.