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A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus

With The Appendix of Gudius, And an accurate Edition of the Original on the opposite Page. To which is added, A Parsing Index For the Use of Learners. By Christopher Smart

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FABLE IV. The Lion and the Mouse.
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FABLE IV. The Lion and the Mouse.

This fable is a moral song,
To bid us not inferiors wrong.
As fast asleep a Lion lay,
The sylvan Mice began to play,
Till one, by rash misconduct, leap't
Upon his body as he slept.
The Lion, rousing from his nap,
Seiz'd instant on the little chap—
But he begs pardon for th'offence,
The fault of mere improvidence.
The king of beasts, who wisely knew
No glory could to him accrue

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By taking vengeance for the deed,
At once the Mouse forgave and freed.
The Lion, in a little space,
As late at night he urg'd the chace,
Fell down into a pit, and there
Found himself tangled with a snare.
Then making all the roar he could,
The list'ning Mouse came from the wood,
And drawing near “Be not afraid,
“For I'll requite your love,” he said.
Then he his nibbling skill applies,
And all the knots and joints he tries,
At last he loosens every thread,
With which his net the artist spread,
And leaving nothing unexplor'd,
The Lion to the woods restor'd.