Fables in Song :: :: University of Virginia Library

One day, came, footsore, from a distant Shire
A workman asking work. Well worth his hire
The stranger proved. A sober man was he,
Hard-working, honest. Tho' he seem'd to be
By something nobly mournful in his mien
For better fortunes born, yet staid, serene,
And silent, he his daily taskwork plied.
With curious gaze full oft the master eyed
This stranger: whom one day, when work was done,
He sought, and, at the setting of the sun,
Found by the river bank, with tearful eye
Watching a willow tree that wept thereby.
“Thou sufferest, honest friend?” the good man cried.
“I, too, have suffer'd. Trust me.” Faintly sigh'd
The other (answering not) “O willow tree
Ducunt volentem fata ... woe is me ...
Nolentem trahunt!” Much surprised to hear
Those words, once heard before with drowning ear,
The master ask'd, and learn'd, at last, what we
Already know. With this much more: that she
For whose sake this poor wretch had saved his life
That life had fill'd with misery, shame, and strife,
And at the last had left him, leaving not,
To reconcile him to his ruin'd lot,
Fortune or friends. Thus had he lived to hate
That luckless hour when he, at strife with fate,
Had won the victory. “Friend, forget the past!”
The master cried. “In mine a home thou hast.

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Nor wife have I, nor children. Be mine heir.
Who art mine only kinsman, I declare.
For kinsfolk of a sort we needs must be,
Two fishes out of the same water, we!”
Then, when the other hesitated, “Nay,”
He added, laughing, “Fate will have her way.
So, nolens volens, it must needs be so.
Shake hands upon it. There's no saying no,
When Fate saith ay.”