ADog and a Cock took a Journy together. The Dog Kennell'd in the Body of a Hollow Tree, and the Cock Roosted at night upon the Boughs. The Cock crow’d about Midnight; (at his Usual Hour) which brought a Fox that was abroad upon the Hunt, immediately to the Tree; and there he stood Licking of his Lips, at the Cock, and Wheedling him to get him Down. He Protested he never heard so Angelical a Voice since he was Born, and what would not He do now, to Hugg the Creature that had given him so Admirable a Serenade! Pray, says the Cock, speak to the Porter below to open the Door, and Ill come Down to ye: The Fox did as he was Directed, and the Dog presently seiz'd and Worry'd him.
The Moral.
The Main Bus'nefs of the World is Nothing but Sharping, and putting Tricks upon One Another by Turns.
REFLEXION.
'Tis Good Discretion, when a Body has to do with an Adversary, that is either too Crafty, or too Strong for him, to turn him off to his Match; but it would be a Cleverer Way yet, to Encounter the Stratagem, and to Defeat One Sham with Another, as the Simplicity of the Cock here was too hard for the Wilyness of the Fox. Experience makes many a Wise Man of a Fool, and Security makes many a Fool of a Wise Man. We have an Instance of the Former in the Cocks Over-reaching the Fox, and of the Other, in the Foxes Supine Confidence, that made him so Intent upon his Prey, as to neglect his Safety. Now the Cock, that upon Long Tryal and Observation, knew the Fox to be the Common Enemy of all Poultrey; had likewise a Dread and Suspicion of him by Instint, which made him Naturally Cautious upon the very Principle of Selfe-Preservation. Whereas the Fox, that Trusted to his Address and Manage, without so much as Dreaming of a Cross-Bite from so silly an Animal, fell Himself into the Pit that he had Digg’d for Another. It is much the same Case in the World when Providence is pleas’d to Confound the False, the Mighty, and the Bloud-Thirsty, by Judgments of Lice and Frogs: That is to say, by the most Despicable of Instruments. To put an End to This Moral, It is a wonderful Thing how the very Force of Nature will Exert it self, in the Meanest and the Weakest of Creatures, in Cases of Extreme Necessity and Danger: As it made the Cock here too hard for the Fox.
