Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable LXXIV

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. LXXIV.

A Boy, and False Alarums.

A Shepherd Boy had gotten a Roguy Trick of crying [a Wolfe, a Wolfe] when there was No such Matter, and Fooling the Country People with False Alarums. He had been at This Sport so many times in Jest, that they would not Believe him at last when he was in Earnest: And so the Wolves Brake in upon the Flock, and Worry'd the Sheep at Pleasure.

The Moral.

He must be a very Wise Man that knows the True Bounds, and Measures of Fooling, with a respect to Time, Place, Matters, Persons, &c. But Religion, Business and Cases of Consequence must be Excepted out of That Sort of Liberty.

REFLEXION.

A Common Lyar (says the Old Moral) shall not be Believ'd, even when he speaks True: But there's a Great deal more in't, of which hereafter.

There's not One Man of a Thousand that Understands the Just, the Safe, Warrantable, Decent, and Precise Limits of that which we call Bantering, or Fooling: But it is either too Course, too Rude, too Childish, too Bitter, too Much on’t, too Pedantique; and in fine, out of Measure, or out of Season. Now the Least Errour or Mistake in the Manage of This Humour, lays People Open to Great Censure, and Reproach. It is not Every man's Talent to know When and How to Cast out a Pleasant Word, with such a Regard to Modesty and Respect, as not to Transgress the True, and Fair Allowances of Wit, Good Nature, and Good Breeding. The Skill and Faculty of Governing This Freedom within the Terms ot Sobriety and Discretion, goes a Great Way in the Character of an Agreeable Conversations for That which we call Raillery, in This Sense, is the very Sawce of Civil Entertainment: And without some such Tincture of Urbanity, even in Matters the most Serious, the Good Humour Flattens, for want of Refreshment and Relief: But there’s a Medium yet betwixt All-Fool, and All-Philosopher. I mean, A Proper and a Discreet Mixture, that in some sort Partakes of Both, and renders Wisdom it self the more Grateful, and Effectual for it, The Gravity, in short, of the One, is Enliven'd with the Spirit and Quickness of the Other; and the Gayety of a Diverting Word serves as a Vehicle to Convey the Force of the Intent, and Meaning of it: But the Main Drift at last of This Fable, is to shew us the Dangerous Consequences of an Improper, and an Unseasonable Fooling: With All Respect however to the Ornament and Advantage of a Facetious Freedom of Di'course, within the Compass of Sobriety and Honour, To Conclude; The Shepherds Boy went too far upon a Topique that he did not Understand.