#foxraven

Beneath the tree’s umbrageous limb

  A hungry fox sat smiling;

He saw the raven watching him,

  And spoke in words beguiling:

    “J’ admire,” said he, “ton beau plumage,”

    (The which was simply persiflage).

  Two things there are, no doubt you know,

  To which a fox is used,—

A rooster that is bound to crow,

  A crow that ’s bound to roost,

    And whichsoever he espies

    He tells the most unblushing lies.

    “Sweet fowl,” he said, “I understand

  You ’re more than merely natty:

I hear you sing to beat the band

  And Adelina Patti.

    Pray render with your liquid tongue

    A bit from ‘Götterdämmerung.’”

  This subtle speech was aimed to please

  The crow, and it succeeded:

He thought no bird in all the trees

  Could sing as well as he did.

    In flattery completely doused,

    He gave the “Jewel Song” from “Faust.”

  But gravitation’s law, of course,

  As Isaac Newton showed it,

Exerted on the cheese its force,

  And elsewhere soon bestowed it.

    In fact, there is no need to tell

    What happened when to earth it fell.

  I blush to add that when the bird

  Took in the situation

He said one brief, emphatic word,

  Unfit for publication.

    The fox was greatly startled, but

    He only sighed and answered “Tut!”

  THE MORAL is: A fox is bound

  To be a shameless sinner.

And also: When the cheese comes round

  You know it ’s after dinner.

    But (what is only known to few)