Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXCVII
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Fab. CXCVII.
A Pigeon and a Crow.
A Pigeon that was brought up in a Dove-House, was Bragging to a Crow how Fruitful she was. Never Value Your self says the Crow upon That Vanity; for the More Children, the more Sorrow.
The MORAL.
Many Children are a Great Blessing; but a Few Good Ones are a Greater; All Hazzards Consider'd.
REFLEXION.
THE Care, Charge, and Hazzard of a Brood of many Children, in the Education and Proof of them, does, in a Great Measure, Countervail the Blessing: Especially where they are gotten in a State of Slavery. Sorrow and Vexation is Entail’d upon the whole Race of Mankind. We are Begotten to't; We are Born to't; and as it has Descended to us, so it is by us to be Handed down to Those that come after us. The Stress of the Fable lies upon the Hazzard of having a Numerous Stock of Children, which must of Necessity, whether they Live or Dye, furnish Matter of Great Anxiety to the Parents. The Loss of them is Grievous to us. The Miscarriage of them, by falling into Lew'd and Vicious Courses, is much Worse: And one such Disappointment is sufficient to Blast the Comfort of All the Rest. Nay the very Possibility, or rather the Likelihood and Odds, that some out of such a Number will Prove Ungracious and Rebellious, makes our Heads Uneasie to us; Fills our Heads and our Hearts with Carking Thoughts, and keeps us in Anxiety Night and Day for fear they should be so, and prove like Vipers, to Eat out the Belly of their Own Mothers.