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the cat - World eBook Library

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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.

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