126 The Poets Beasts. 



Its character in fable and folk-lore is not always that 

 which the poets attribute to it. It has other traits than 

 stupidity and credulity. For though it is outwitted and 

 betrayed by the fox, it outwits the wolf, and kicks all its 

 teeth down its throat. Though it absurdly proposes to 

 chirp like a grasshopper, and undertakes the role of lap-dog, 

 it philosophises very sagaciously on the fortunes of the 

 war-horse. 



'• The ass, whom Nature reason has denied, 

 Content with instinct for his surer guide. 

 Still follows that and wiselier does proceed ; 

 He ne'er aspii-es with his harsh braying note 

 The songsters of the wood to challenge out ; 

 Nor, like this awkward smatterer in arts, 

 Sets up himself for a vain ass of parts." ^ 



The frogs, it is true, make fun of it, but the ass in turn 

 flouts the mule. Under a mistaken sense of its own powers, 

 it amiably proposes to serenade the beasts — Swift calls it 

 " the nightingale of brutes " — and, with a self-respect that 

 is not unbecoming, falls into the error of supposing that 

 the homage paid to the image which it carries is intended 

 for itself But, on the other hand, it is always found sen- 

 sibly selecting creature-comforts over mere vain-glory, and 

 possessed of a considerable sense of humour. Till its glee 

 overcame its discretion, the donkey in the lion's skin had 

 a " high old time of it," as the Americans say, and kept all 

 the beasts of the forest in a ridiculous stampede by its well- 

 acted part ; and I can quite understand the long-eared one 

 laughing prodigiously over the consternation and hubbub 

 he was causing. Indeed, I am half inclined to think, with 

 Bloomfield, that when the donkey played the part of the 

 " Fakenham Ghost " he did so with full sense of the prac- 

 tical joke. 



* Oldham, "Satires of Buileau Imitated." 



