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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| XVIII. | FABLE XVIII. The Serpent and Peasant:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
218
FABLE XVIII. The Serpent and Peasant:
Or, Injuries long remembred.
A
Serpent long had settl'd her Aboad
Near where a Peasant's Habitation stood;
And free from hateful Enmity and Strife,
They, like good Neighbours, led a Friendly Life:
'Till the Man's Son, thro' Wantonness, aggress'd,
And with a rude Assault provok'd the Beast;
Who cou'd not Wrongs so undeserv'd abide,
But, in Resentment, stung him that he dy'd.
The angry Father, to revenge his Son,
And punish her who had the Mischief done;
With his keen Ax the Serpent did assail,
But miss'd her Head, and cut away her Tail.
His Grief and Fury were by this allay'd,
And he, for future Peace, kind Offers made:
Yet wisely she the proffer'd Terms refus'd,
And said, Our Faults can hardly be excus'd:
We never shall be throughly reconcil'd,
While I regret my Tail, and you your Child.
Near where a Peasant's Habitation stood;
And free from hateful Enmity and Strife,
They, like good Neighbours, led a Friendly Life:
'Till the Man's Son, thro' Wantonness, aggress'd,
And with a rude Assault provok'd the Beast;
Who cou'd not Wrongs so undeserv'd abide,
But, in Resentment, stung him that he dy'd.
The angry Father, to revenge his Son,
And punish her who had the Mischief done;
With his keen Ax the Serpent did assail,
But miss'd her Head, and cut away her Tail.
His Grief and Fury were by this allay'd,
And he, for future Peace, kind Offers made:
Yet wisely she the proffer'd Terms refus'd,
And said, Our Faults can hardly be excus'd:
We never shall be throughly reconcil'd,
While I regret my Tail, and you your Child.
The MORAL.
‘True Reconcilement little Room can find,‘Where Sense of Injuries afflicts the Mind:
‘The deep Resentment must continue long,
‘While sad Effects still represent the Wrong.
219
‘They must forget the Harms they wou'd forgive.
| Truth in Fiction | |