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ENGLISH FABLES
305
"Yours is," she said, "the nobler hue,
And yours the statelier mien;
And, till a third surpasses you,
Let each be deemed a queen.
Let no mean jealousies pervert your mind,
A blemish in another's fame to find;
Be grateful for the gifts that you possess.
Nor deem a rival's merit makes yours less.
(William Cowper.)
THE BUTTERFLY AND THE BEE
METHOUGHT I heard a butterfly
Say to a labouring bee:
"Thou hast no colours of the sky
On painted wings like me."
"Poor child of vanity! those dyes,
And colours bright and rare,"
With mild reproach, the bee replies,
"Are all beneath my care.
"Content I toil from morn to eve,
And scorning idleness,
To tribes of gaudy sloth I leave
The vanity of dress."
