Page:Florian - The Fables, 1888.djvu/74

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68
FLORIAN'S FABLES.

       'Twill water ev'ry field
       That's suff'ring now for rain;
       And great will be the yield
       Of ev'ry kind of grain.
       A double crop of hay
       Our labor will repay:
       Wheat, half as much again;
       And grapes will load the plain:
We shall lack nothing, I opine,
But casks enough to hold the wine.
              And hence,
We all shall live in opulence."
       "That's very bright!"
       Said Luke with spite.
"Well! my ideas, say what you will,
Are good as yours," responded Bill.
"Oh then," said Luke, "if that's the case,
Let's wait and see what will take place.
You'd better be not quite so fast:
'Tis he laughs best who laughs the last."
"Then God be prais'd!" was Bill's reply,
"I shall not be the one to cry!"
The two thus heated, and in rage,
A battle were about to wage,
When suddenly a puff of wind,
Bore the portentous cloud away,
Which neither hail'd nor rain'd that day,
       Nor left a trace behind.