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 |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE XXIX. The Wolf and Lamb:
Or, Might overcomes Right.
As at a Spring a Wolf his Thirst allay'd,
A Lamb, to taste the distant Stream, essay'd;
Whereat fierce Isgrim (pleas'd to take Offence)
Said, He disturb'd the Fountain-head from thence.
The trembling Lamb, with apprehensive Dread,
His Pardon crav'd, and did, Not Guilty, plead:
For such a Crime, he urg'd, cou'd ne'er be done,
'Till Streams did backward to their Sources run.
To whom the Wolf; In vain, presumptuous Thing,
Thou do'st to me thy feign'd Excuses bring:
Thou art obnoxious; I thy Race abhor;
Thy Sire and Dam have wrong'd me heretofore:
And now my just Resentment shall be shown
On thee, for their Offences, and thy own.
A Lamb, to taste the distant Stream, essay'd;
Whereat fierce Isgrim (pleas'd to take Offence)
Said, He disturb'd the Fountain-head from thence.
The trembling Lamb, with apprehensive Dread,
His Pardon crav'd, and did, Not Guilty, plead:
For such a Crime, he urg'd, cou'd ne'er be done,
'Till Streams did backward to their Sources run.
To whom the Wolf; In vain, presumptuous Thing,
Thou do'st to me thy feign'd Excuses bring:
Thou art obnoxious; I thy Race abhor;
Thy Sire and Dam have wrong'd me heretofore:
And now my just Resentment shall be shown
On thee, for their Offences, and thy own.
The MORAL.
‘Oppressors, bent on wronging Innocence,‘When Will and Pow'r conspire, ne'er want Pretence:
40
‘Their Will's their Reason, and their Pow'r their Law.
| Truth in Fiction | |