A wonderful telling of the Aesop fable; a poem by Richard Scrafton Sharpe
A hungry dog some meat had seized,
And, with the ample booty pleased,
His neighbour dogs forsook;
In fear for his delightful prize,
He look’d around with eager eyes,
And ran to cross the brook.
To cross the brook, a single plank
Was simply laid from bank to bank;
And, as he past alone,
He saw his shadow at his feet,
Which seem’d another dog, with meat
Much better than his own.
Ah, ha! Thought he, as no one spies,
If I could make this piece my prize,
I should be double winner:
So made a snatch; when, sad to tell!
His own piece in the water fell
And thus he lost his dinner.
The fable which above you see,
To greedy folk must useful be,
And suits those to a tittle,
Who long for what they can’t obtain;
‘Tis sure far wiser to remain
Contented with a little.
.
