Whose art it is that can produce
The magic cells, the nectar juice."
The Hornets, flinching on their part,
Show that the work transcends their art.
The Wasp at length their title sees,
And gives the honey to the Bees.

_Oh, would that suits at law with us
Might every one be managed thus!_

The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg

Two Rats in foraging fell on an Egg--
For gentry such as they
A genteel dinner every way;
They needed not to find an ox's leg.
Brimful of joy and appetite,
They were about to sack the box,
So tight without the aid of locks,
When suddenly there came in sight
A personage--Sir Slyboots Fox.
Sure, luck was never more untoward
Since Fortune was a vixen froward!
How should they save their Egg--and bacon?
Their plunder couldn't then be bagg'd.
Should it in forward paws be taken,
Or roll'd along, or dragg'd?
Each method seem'd impossible,
And each was then of danger full.
Necessity, ingenious mother,
Brought forth what help'd them from their pother.
As still there was a chance to save their prey,
The sponger yet some hundred yards away--
One seized the Egg, and turned upon his back,
And then, in spite of many a thump and thwack,
That would have torn, perhaps, a coat of mail,
The other dragg'd him by the tail.
Who dares the inference to blink,
That beasts possess wherewith to think?

_Were I commission'd to bestow
This power on creatures here below,
The beasts should have as much of mind
As infants of the human kind._

The Lion's Share

The Heifer, the Goat, and their sister the Sheep,
Compacted their earnings in common to keep,
'Tis said, in time past, with a Lion, who swayed
Full lordship o'er neighbours, of whatever grade.
The Goat, as it happened, a Stag having snared,
Sent off to the rest, that the beast might be shared.
All gathered; the Lion first counts on his claws,
And says, "We'll proceed to divide with our paws
The stag into pieces, as fix'd by our laws."
This done, he announces part first as his own;
"'Tis mine," he says, "truly, as Lion alone."
To such a decision there's nought to be said,
As he who has made it is doubtless the head.
"Well, also, the second to me should belong;
'Tis mine, be it known, by the right of the strong.
Again, as the bravest, the third must be mine.