Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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| IX. | FABLE IX. The Farmer and River.
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE IX. The Farmer and River.
Smooth Water runs deep.
An honest Farmer, who to Market went,
To sell his Corn, and pay his Landlord's Rent;
Was intercepted in his usual Road,
By the deep Current of a new-ris'n Flood:
Impatient of Delay, the Stream he try'd,
Where the smooth Water with least Noise did glide;
But finding there 'twas deeper than he thought,
A shallower and safer Passage sought;
And where the rougher Torrent most did roar,
Found a stanch Ford, and gain'd the farther Shore:
Then on his Danger this Reflection made;
How soon are Mortals by false Shews betray'd!
I in the silent Stream had sure been lost,
But found least Mischief where it threatned most.
To sell his Corn, and pay his Landlord's Rent;
Was intercepted in his usual Road,
By the deep Current of a new-ris'n Flood:
Impatient of Delay, the Stream he try'd,
Where the smooth Water with least Noise did glide;
But finding there 'twas deeper than he thought,
A shallower and safer Passage sought;
And where the rougher Torrent most did roar,
Found a stanch Ford, and gain'd the farther Shore:
Then on his Danger this Reflection made;
How soon are Mortals by false Shews betray'd!
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But found least Mischief where it threatned most.
The MORAL.
‘Thus noisie Men their harmless Fury spend,‘And threaten greater Ills than they intend:
‘While silent Villains their Intrigues refine,
‘And calmly hide the Mischefs they design.
‘Anger, when vented, is a transient Blast;
‘But, when suppress'd, like cover'd Fire do's last:
‘One Menaces, and means no further Ill;
‘The other's Mute, but plotting Mischief still.
| Truth in Fiction | |