BALAAM'S ASS 



" But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb ; and if thou 

 redeem him not thou shalt break his neck." — Exodus. 



" Thou shalt not plough with an ass and an ox together." 



— Deuteronomy. 

 " And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way .... and 

 the ass turned aside and went into the field .... and Balaam smote the 

 ass ... . and she saw the angel .... and thrust herself into the wall and 

 crushed Balaam's foot and he smote her again .... and when she saw the 

 angel of the Lord she fell down under Balaam, and he smote the ass with a 

 staff. . . . And the ass said unto Balaam, 'What have I done .''... Am I 

 not thine ass ? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee.' And he said ' Nay ' . . . . 

 then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw." — Numbers. 



"Behold thy King cometh to thee meek and sitting upon an ass and a colt 

 the foal of an ass." — Isaiah. 



" King Midas hath the ears of an ass." — De Asse. 

 " Titania waked and straightway loved an ass." 



— A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

 " It beareth the cross still in that it bore the Lord once." — 0/d writer. 

 " I may be an ass, but I'm not a silly ass." — The Liars. 



|RULY as the eye travels down these strangely 

 antagonistic quotations one feels inclined to 

 finish them with — " Bless thee, Bottom, 

 bless thee ! Thou art translated." 



For if any living creature has ever been 

 translated it is the ass. It has literally 

 fallen from heaven to earth, from honour to contempt. 



Once God of the Starry Host, its braying now, accord- 

 ing to the Italian proverb, cannot reach the skies. 



The Path-finder once and thus, as Hermes was in after 



