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-THE CAT<br />
The Old Cat and <strong>the</strong> Young Mouse<br />
A young Mouse, small and innocent,<br />
Implored an old Cat's clemency:<br />
" Raminagrobis, let me live<br />
Your royal mercy, monarch, give<br />
A Mouse so little, sir, as I<br />
A tiny meal can ill supply.<br />
How could I starve a family?<br />
Host, hostess, only look at me.<br />
I fatten on a grain of wheat,<br />
A mite my dinner makes complete;<br />
I'm thin, too, now,— just wait a bit,<br />
And for your children I'll be fit."<br />
Thus spoke <strong>the</strong> little Mouse, aggrieved;<br />
The old Cat answered : " You're deceived.<br />
Go, tell <strong>the</strong> deaf and dumb,— not me,<br />
Cats never pardon, so you'll see.<br />
The law condemns, and you must die;<br />
Descend, and tell <strong>the</strong> Fates that I<br />
Have stopped your preaching, and be sure<br />
My children's meals will be no fewer."<br />
JFIe kept his word; and to my fable<br />
I add a moral, as I'm able:<br />
Youth hopes to win all by address;<br />
But age is ever pitiless.<br />
54<br />
Jean de La Fontaine.