Aesop, in Rhyme, page 29 by Marmaduke Park
<< Return to Title Details & Download30
HE VIZOR MASK.
A fox while walking out one day,
Into a toy shop chanced to stray;
Among the toys that stood arrayed,
A vizor mask was there displayed,
With rosy cheeks, complexion fair,
And ruby lips and auburn hair,
And eyes of blue, and Grecian nose;
And many beauties to disclose,
It seemed made. The fox, with sighs,
Gazed on. "Ah, ah!" he cries,
"Look at this head it naught contains,
It has rare beauty, but no brains."
MORAL.
The accomplished beau, in air and mien how blest.
His hat well fashioned, and his hair well dress'd--
But still undress'd within: to give him brains
Exceeds his hatter's or his barber's pains.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN
EGGS.
A man once had a goose I'm told,
Which had laid each day an egg of gold.
Now if this treasure were well spent,
It might make any one content.
But no! this man desired more;
And though of eggs he had rich store;
He thought one day the goose he'd kill,
And then at once his pockets fill.
So chasing goosey round and round,
She soon was caught and firmly bound
He opened her from neck to tail
And then his folly did bewail.
For not a single egg was there,
And thus he lost this treasure rare.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.
A fox once took it in his pate,
To go beyond a garden gate,
To see if there grew on the trees,
Some food his hunger to appease.
So in he went and there he spied
Some grapes. To reach them hard he tried.
Now they were large and luscious too,
Quite purple, and beautiful to view.
So up he jumps with many a bound,
Until exhausted to the ground,
He falls. The grapes hang o'er his head,
In clusters large, "Well! well!" he said,
"You are but green, and hard as stone,
And all my time away is thrown.<