Page:Florian - The Fables, 1888.djvu/119

       Ev'rything was peace and love,
       While in t'other all was strife—
       Husband fighting with the wife,
       Broken eggs and wretched life.
Twas one day after being beat,
The magpie sought the dove's retreat,
       Where she chatter'd, scolded, cried
Told all she knew and more beside,
And with her clamor fill'd the house
About the failings of her spouse.
"He is exacting, hard, and proud,"
       She shriek'd aloud,
"And passionate and jealous too;
       And yet he goes
       To see the crows,
As I can well attest to you."
And in her anger she gave vent
To many things of like intent.
"But you," the gentle dove replied,
"Have you no faults on your side?"
"I have, the pie resum'd, "'tis true;
And I may say, between us two,
In my behavior I've been light,
And sometimes shown a deal of spite.
I've often, too, play'd the coquette,
Merely to see him writhe and fret."
(Pies hardly would this fault admit
If they thought doves would credit it.)
"But what of that? I'd like to know,
Don't other birds do even so?"