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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| XLVII. | FABLE XLVII. The Trees:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE XLVII. The Trees:
Or, Fatal Beauty.
A grove of Trees in one Plantation grew,
Tall, straight, and smooth, and graceful to the View:
Only one Brother, not so kindly thriv'n,
Was Dwarfish, Crooked, Knotty, and Unev'n:
Him all his haughty Fellows did despise,
Him they still loaded with sharp Obloquies.
But so it chanc'd, that he who own'd the Soil,
Condemn'd his Wood to be the Axe's Spoil;
And, to erect a Building on his Land,
Fell'd the fair Trees, but let the Monster stand.
He, marking how his nobler Brethren far'd,
While he, for his Defects alone, was spar'd;
Said, I on Nature will no more exclaim,
For this my useless and mis-shapen Frame;
Since I, by that, my Safety have enjoy'd,
While others, for their Beauty, are destroy'd.
Tall, straight, and smooth, and graceful to the View:
Only one Brother, not so kindly thriv'n,
Was Dwarfish, Crooked, Knotty, and Unev'n:
Him all his haughty Fellows did despise,
Him they still loaded with sharp Obloquies.
But so it chanc'd, that he who own'd the Soil,
Condemn'd his Wood to be the Axe's Spoil;
And, to erect a Building on his Land,
Fell'd the fair Trees, but let the Monster stand.
He, marking how his nobler Brethren far'd,
While he, for his Defects alone, was spar'd;
Said, I on Nature will no more exclaim,
For this my useless and mis-shapen Frame;
260
While others, for their Beauty, are destroy'd.
The MORAL.
‘We shou'd not rashly at those Wants repine,‘In which kind Heav'n our Safety do's design:
‘A Sickly Body, or a mean Estate,
‘Prevent our suff'ring a severer Fate.
‘Vigour and Wealth make us ill Courses run,
‘And furnish us with Means to be undone.
‘The boasted Beauties of a Charming Face,
‘Expose, what they imbellish, to Disgrace.
‘She who is less admir'd, is more secure;
‘Meets few Assaults, or many can endure.
| Truth in Fiction | |