Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Fables for the Frivolous by Carryl Guy Wetmore Newell Peter Illustrator
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 193 lines and 12406 words, and 4 pages
THE AMBITIOUS FOX AND THE UNAPPROACHABLE GRAPES
THE PERSEVERING TORTOISE AND THE PRETENTIOUS HARE
THE PATRICIAN PEACOCKS AND THE OVERWEENING JAY
THE ARROGANT FROG AND THE SUPERIOR BULL
THE DOMINEERING EAGLE AND THE INVENTIVE BRATLING
THE ICONOCLASTIC RUSTIC AND THE APROPOS ACORN
THE UNUSUAL GOOSE AND THE IMBECILIC WOODCUTTER
THE RUDE RAT AND THE UNOSTENTATIOUS OYSTER
THE URBAN RAT AND THE SUBURBAN RAT
THE IMPECUNIOUS CRICKET AND THE FRUGAL ANT
THE PAMPERED LAPDOG AND THE MISGUIDED ASS
THE VAINGLORIOUS OAK AND THE MODEST BULRUSH
THE INHUMAN WOLF AND THE LAMB SANS GENE
THE SYCOPHANTIC FOX AND THE GULLIBLE RAVEN
THE MICROSCOPIC TROUT AND THE MACHIAVELIAN FISHERMAN
THE CONFIDING PEASANT AND THE MALADROIT BEAR
THE PRECIPITATE COCK AND THE UNAPPRECIATED PEARL
THE ABBREVIATED FOX AND HIS SCEPTICAL COMRADES
THE HOSPITABLE CALEDONIAN AND THE THANKLESS VIPER
THE IMPETUOUS BREEZE AND THE DIPLOMATIC SUN
"THE FOX RETREATED OUT OF RANGE"
"HE STROVE TO GROW ROTUNDER"
"AN ACORN FELL ABRUPTLY"
"SAID SHE, 'GET UP, YOU BRUTE YOU!'"
"AND SO A WEIGHTY ROCK SHE AIMED"
THE AMBITIOUS FOX
AND
THE UNAPPROACHABLE GRAPES
He also drove some iron pegs Securely in the coping, To tear the bare, defenceless legs Of brats who, upward groping, Might steal, despite the risk of fall, The grapes that grew upon the wall.
One day a fox, on thieving bent, A crafty and an old one, Most shrewdly tracked the pungent scent That eloquently told one That grapes were ripe and grapes were good And likewise in the neighborhood.
He threw some stones of divers shapes The luscious fruit to jar off: It made him ill to see the grapes So near and yet so far off. His throws were strong, his aim was fine, But "Never touched me!" said the vine.
The farmer shouted, "Drat the boys!" And, mounting on a ladder, He sought the cause of all the noise; No farmer could be madder, Which was not hard to understand Because the glass had cut his hand.
His passion he could not restrain, But shouted out, "You're thievish!" The fox replied, with fine disdain, "Come, country, don't be peevish."
"I will not try the grapes to-day," He said. "My appetite is Fastidious, and, anyway, I fear appendicitis."
The moral is that if your host Throws glass around his entry You know it isn't done by most Who claim to be the gentry, While if he hits you in the head You may be sure he's underbred.
THE PERSEVERING TORTOISE
AND
THE PRETENTIOUS HARE
One fine day, as was his habit, He was dozing in the sun, When a young and flippant rabbit Happened by the ditch to run: "Come and race me," he exclaimed, "Fat inhabitant of puddles. Sluggard! You should be ashamed. Such a life the brain befuddles."
This, of course, was banter merely, But it stirred the torpid blood Of the turtle, and severely Forth he issued from the mud. "Done!" he cried. The race began, But the hare resumed his banter, Seeing how his rival ran In a most unlovely canter.
Now this sporting proposition Was, upon its face, absurd; Yet the hare, with expedition, Took the tortoise at his word, Ran until the final lap, Then, supposing he'd outclassed him, Laid him down and took a nap And the patient turtle passed him!
Plodding on, he shortly made the Line that marked the victor's goal; Paused, and found he'd won, and laid the Flattering unction to his soul. Then in fashion grandiose, Like an after-dinner speaker, Touched his flipper to his nose, And remarked, "Ahem! Eureka!"
And THE MORAL Is: There's often time to spare, And that races are Won not always by a hair.
THE PATRICIAN PEACOCKS
AND
THE OVERWEENING JAY
Once a flock of stately peacocks Promenaded on a green, There were twenty-two or three cocks, Each as proud as seventeen, And a glance, however hasty, Showed their plumage to be tasty; Wheresoever one was placed, he Was a credit to the scene.
But a jay that overheard it From his perch upon a fir Didn't take in how absurd it Was to every one but her; When they answered, "You don't tell us!" And to see the birds seemed zealous He became extremely jealous, Wishing, too, to make a stir.
As the peacocks fed together He would join them at their lunch, Culling here and there a feather Till he'd gathered quite a bunch; Then this bird, of ways perfidious, Stuck them on him most fastidious Till he looked uncommon hideous, Like a Judy or a Punch.
But the peacocks, when they saw him, One and all began to haul, And to harry and to claw him Till the creature couldn't crawl; While their owner's vulgar daughter, When her startled callers sought her, And to see the struggle brought her, Only said, "They're on the maul."
It was really quite revolting When the tumult died away, One would think he had been moulting So dishevelled was the jay; He was more than merely slighted, He was more than disunited, He'd been simply dynamited In the fervor of the fray.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page