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As crafty Reynard strove to swim
The torrent of a rapid stream,
To gain the farther side:
Before the middle space was past,
A whirling eddy caught him fast,
And drove him with the tide.
With vain efforts and struggling spent,
Half drown'd, yet forc'd to be content,
Poor Ren a soaking lay;
Till some kind ebb should set him free,
Or chance restore that liberty
The waves had took away.
A swarm of half-starv'd haggard Flies,
With fury seiz'd the floating prize,
By raging hunger led;
With many a curse and bitter groan,
He shook his sides, and wish'd them gone,
Whilst plenteously they fed.
A Hedge-hog saw his evil plight;
Touch'd with compassion at the sight,
Quoth he, “To show I'm civil,
I'll brush those swigging dogs away,
That on thy blood remorseless prey,
And send them to the Devil.”
“No, courteous sir, the Fox reply'd,
Let them infest and gore my hide,
With their insatiate thirst;
Since I such fatal wounds sustain,
'Twill yield some pleasure midst the pain,
To see the blood hounds burst.”