-THE CAT 



The Old Cat and the Young Mouse 



A young Mouse, small and innocent, 



Implored an old Cat's clemency: 



" Raminagrobis, let me live ! 



Your royal mercy, monarch, give ! 



A Mouse so little, sir, as I 



A tiny meal can ill supply. 



How could I starve a family? 



Host, hostess, only look at me. 



I fatten on a grain of wheat, — 



A mite my dinner makes complete; 



I'm thin, too, now, — just wait a bit, 



And for your children I'll be fit." 



Thus spoke the little Mouse, aggrieved; 



The old Cat answered : " You're deceived. 



Go, tell the deaf and dumb, — not me, 



Cats never pardon, so you'll see. 



The law condemns, and you must die; 



Descend, and tell the Fates that I 



Have stopped your preaching, and be sure 



My children's meals will be no fewer." 



JFIe kept his word; and to my fable 



I add a moral, as I'm able: 



Youth hopes to win all by address; 



But age is ever pitiless. 



Jean de La Fontaine. 

 54 



