Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/417

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FRENCH FABLES
349

Blotting of each shattered jewel.
Wretched Mother! Loud her cries
Lament the loss of Cupid's eyes,
Deafen all the Gods with this.
Jupiter and Nemesis,
Hell's dread Judges—every one—
Hear the clamourous plaint; her Son
Through jeering crowds his way would pick
Nor go a step without a stick:
Vengeance for this should not be spared;
The damage too should be repaired.
When all her tale the Gods had learned.
They passed their sentence. Ne'er again
Must Love and Folly part. The twain
Must walk henceforth in Friendship's grove
And Folly be the Guide of Love.

(La Fontaine, Fables, Vol. XII, No. 14. Translated by Paul Hookham.)


THE ELEPHANT AND THE APE OF JUPITER

THE Elephant and Rhinoceros
Once on a time contended
For Sovereignty; they ended
By staking everything, for gain or loss.
On one decisive Combat in the lists.
A day for this they fixed, when news was brought
That some one had descried through cloudy mists
The Ape of Jupiter
Caduceus in hand, despatched, 'twas thought,