ng dined on ample cheer,
The eagle bade her, "Never fear;
You're welcome to my company;
For if the king of gods can be
Full oft in need of recreation,--
Who rules the world,--right well may I,
Who serve him in that high relation:
Amuse me, then, before you fly."
Our cackler, pleased, at quickest rate
Of this and that began to prate.
No fool, or babbler for that matter,
Could more incontinently chatter.
At last she offer'd to make known--
A better spy had never flown--
All things, whatever she might see,
In travelling from tree to tree.
But, with her offer little pleased--
Nay, gathering wrath at being teased,--
For such a purpose, never rove,--
Replied th' impatient bird of Jove.
"Adieu, my cackling friend, adieu;
My court is not the place for you:
Heaven keep it free from such a bore!"
Madge flapp'd her wings, and said no more.

_'Tis far less easy than it seems_
_An entrance to the great to gain._
_The honour oft hath cost extremes_
_Of mortal pain._
_The craft of spies, the tattling art,_
_And looks more gracious than the heart,_
_Are odious there;_
_But still, if one would meet success,_
_Of different parishes the dress_
_He, like the pie, must wear._

[Illustration: THE EAGLE AND THE MAGPIE.]

The Lion and the Hunter.

A braggart, lover of the chase,
Had lost a dog of valued race,
And thought him in a lion's maw.
He ask'd a shepherd whom he saw,
"Pray show me, man, the robber's place,
And I'll have justice in the case."
"'Tis on this mountain side,"
The shepherd man replied.
"The tribute of a sheep I pay,
Each month, and where I please I stray."
Out leap'd the lion as he spake,
And came that way with agile feet.
The braggart, prompt his flight to take,
Cried, "Jove, O grant a safe retreat!"

_A danger close at hand_
_Of courage is the test._
_It shows us who will stand--_
_Whose legs will run their best._

[Illustration: THE LION AND THE HUNTER.]

The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals

Left kingless by the lion's death,
The beasts once met, our story saith,
Some fit successor to install.
Forth from a dragon-guarde