Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXXIII
Fab. CXXIII.
Two Cocks Fighting.
TWO Cocks fought a Duell for the Mastery of a Dunghill. He that was Worsted, slunk away into a Corner, and Hid himself; T'other takes his Flight up to the Top of the House, and there with Crowing and Clapping of his Wings makes Proclamation of his Victory. An Eagle made a Stoop at him in the Middle of his Exultation, and carry'd him away. By This Accident, the Other Cock had a Good Riddance of his Rival; took Possession of the Province they Contended for, and had All his Mistresses to Himself again.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
This Combat of Two Cocks for a Dunghill, may be Moraliz’d by an Application of it to the Competition of the Greatest Princes, for Empire and Dominion. For what’s the World more then a Mass of Dirt on the One hand, as to the Subect of the Quarrell; and there's the same Thirst of Blood too, betwixt the Combatants, on the Other. We have again, the Various Chance of Warr Exhibited on Both Sides: For ’tis with Kings, as with These Cocks. He that’s a Victor This Moment, may be a Slave the Next: And this Volubility of Human Affaires, what is it, bur either the Sport, or the Judgment of Providence, in the Punishment of Arrogance and Oppression! We are given finally to Understand, that as the Levity of Fortune leaves us Nothing to Trust to, or to Presume upon, so at the same Time there's Nothing to Despair of. The Conguering Cock was Cat off in the very Song of his Triumph: and the Conuer'd, re-instated in the Possession of his former Pretenses.