Fables in Song :: :: University of Virginia Library

There was a couple who could not agree,
Tho' conjoin'd by a fate they were forced to obey.
And of one of that couple the name was He,
And the name of the other did He call They.

2

Different in age, as in all, were the two;
The youngest He, and yet ages old;
They even older, and short of view,
As of hearing hard, if the truth be told.

3

He was resolved (and some sages say
It is man's best study) to study himself;
Taking small heed of his yokemate. They
Spared no abuse of the self-will'd elf.

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4

“He,” said They, “is the bitterest brute!
A bear,—and his bearish actions show it.”
Which opinion settled beyond dispute,
'Twas a miracle only could overthrow it.

5

But falling sick, and recovering slowly,
He grew as tame as a brute could be;
And, his rebel habits reforming wholly,
Meek and mild as a lamb was He;

6

Doing whatever a lamb can do
To evince the virtues for which man love it:
Whilst They, disinclined to opinions new,
Cried “He is a bear, and his actions prove it!”

7

Hard of hearing, and short of sight,
Thus They took ... was it ten years, or more?
To discover that all was at last lamb white
In the blackness so bearishly black before.

8

Truth, however, will find her way
To the dullest brain, if you grant her time;

175

And so after thus chiming its ten years, They
Changed of a sudden this chiding chime.

9

“He,” at last said They, with no doubt at all,
“Is the sweetest soul. We have wrong'd him, we.
And that was but honey we took for gall.”
Meanwhile (what was it sour'd him?) He,

10

Because He had tried and had fail'd to please,
Or because of original sin, once more,
A backslider, became by unblest degrees,
The unsocial bear he had been before.

11

Yet “He,” cry They, and still go on crying,
“Is the sweetest soul, and his actions show it!”
Do They believe it, or are They lying?
One thing only is sure. I know it.

12

Between a man and his reputation
There is a space to be travell'd thro':
And when rumour reaches its destination
The tale it tells is no longer true.

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13

Each ray of the star you are praising to-night
Hath been long on its way to your world below:
And your praises, perchance, are bestow'd on the light
Of a star that hath perish'd an age ago.