 | The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe |  |
THE KING'S FAVORITE.
AN ORIENTAL TALE.
A shepherd who was wont to keep
With so much care his flock of sheep,
That not a man in all the plains
Could show the like in fleecy gains,
Was noticed by the king; who said,
“One who so long has wisely led
His woolly charge must surely be
A proper man to oversee
A nobler flock; I make thee, then,
A magistrate,—to govern men!”
“What,” mused the shepherd, “shall I do?
A hermit and a wolf or two
My whole acquaintance constitute
(Except my sheep) of man or brute!
His reason bade the clown decide
Against the place; not so his pride.
Ambition's plea at last prevails,
And lo! the shepherd takes the scales.
With so much care his flock of sheep,
That not a man in all the plains
Could show the like in fleecy gains,
Was noticed by the king; who said,
“One who so long has wisely led
His woolly charge must surely be
A proper man to oversee
A nobler flock; I make thee, then,
A magistrate,—to govern men!”
“What,” mused the shepherd, “shall I do?
A hermit and a wolf or two
My whole acquaintance constitute
(Except my sheep) of man or brute!
His reason bade the clown decide
Against the place; not so his pride.
Ambition's plea at last prevails,
And lo! the shepherd takes the scales.
Soon as his hermit-neighbor heard
What to the shepherd had occurred,
His honest mind he thus expressed:
“'T is surely but a royal jest,
To make of thee, who never saw
A written page of statute law,
Chief Justice of the realm! I deem
The tale is false, or do I dream?
Ah! princely gifts are fatal things;
Beware, I say,—beware of kings!”
What to the shepherd had occurred,
His honest mind he thus expressed:
“'T is surely but a royal jest,
To make of thee, who never saw
A written page of statute law,
Chief Justice of the realm! I deem
The tale is false, or do I dream?
Ah! princely gifts are fatal things;
Beware, I say,—beware of kings!”
The shepherd listens, but the while
His only answer is a smile,
As one whose happiness provokes
The envy of inferior folks.
“Alas!” the hermit cried, “I see
The fabled wagoner in thee,
Who lost his whip, and by mistake
Took up instead a torpid snake,
That, warming in his fingers, stung
The foolish hand to which it clung,
A mortal bite; do thou, my friend,
Beware the like unhappy end!”
And soon indeed the favorite found
The hermit's plain advice was sound.
The Judge, although he did his best,
Was most unequal to the test;
His judgments, set in legal light,
Were quite as often wrong as right;
And, worst of all, around him rose
A crowd of envious, spiteful foes,
Who, one and all, contrive to bring
The blackest slanders to the King,
Who hears, amazed, the story told
Of justice daily bought and sold.
Indeed, his enemies declare,
“His Honor” takes the lion's share,
And with the fruit of bribes alone
Has built a palace of his own.
His only answer is a smile,
As one whose happiness provokes
The envy of inferior folks.
“Alas!” the hermit cried, “I see
The fabled wagoner in thee,
Who lost his whip, and by mistake
191
That, warming in his fingers, stung
The foolish hand to which it clung,
A mortal bite; do thou, my friend,
Beware the like unhappy end!”
And soon indeed the favorite found
The hermit's plain advice was sound.
The Judge, although he did his best,
Was most unequal to the test;
His judgments, set in legal light,
Were quite as often wrong as right;
And, worst of all, around him rose
A crowd of envious, spiteful foes,
Who, one and all, contrive to bring
The blackest slanders to the King,
Who hears, amazed, the story told
Of justice daily bought and sold.
Indeed, his enemies declare,
“His Honor” takes the lion's share,
And with the fruit of bribes alone
Has built a palace of his own.
The King, astounded at his guilt,
Would see the palace he had built;
And finds, when all his search is done,
A modest house of wood and stone.
He opens next the fabled box
Where, fast beneath a dozen locks,
The Judge's famous jewels lie;
But nothing meets the royal eye
Except a shepherd's coat and cap
(The former rent in many a gap),
And—to reward his further look—
A shepherd's rusty pipe and crook.
“O treasure precious to my eyes!”
The Judge exclaims, “from thee arise
No hateful cares, nor envious lies.
These I resume, and learn, though late,
Whoe'er aspires to serve the state
Should first consider well the case,
If he is equal to the place;
And long reflect, before he makes
That most egregious of mistakes,—
One's true vocation weakly spurned,
To serve a trade he never learned.”
Would see the palace he had built;
And finds, when all his search is done,
A modest house of wood and stone.
He opens next the fabled box
Where, fast beneath a dozen locks,
The Judge's famous jewels lie;
But nothing meets the royal eye
Except a shepherd's coat and cap
(The former rent in many a gap),
And—to reward his further look—
A shepherd's rusty pipe and crook.
“O treasure precious to my eyes!”
The Judge exclaims, “from thee arise
No hateful cares, nor envious lies.
These I resume, and learn, though late,
Whoe'er aspires to serve the state
Should first consider well the case,
If he is equal to the place;
And long reflect, before he makes
That most egregious of mistakes,—
One's true vocation weakly spurned,
To serve a trade he never learned.”
| The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe | |