On turning author, finds his fame
Unequal to the trying test,
And like the Swan, exposed to shame.
Becomes a byword and a jest.
(Iriarte, Literary Fables. Translated for Blackwood's Magazine.)
THE SILKWORM AND THE SPIDER
ONE day, as a Silkworm slowly spun
Its delicate threads in the noon-tide sun,
A Spider cried, from its darksome nook:
"Look at my web, sweet sister, look!
I began it at dawn, 'tis hardly noon.
And yet my task will be ended soon;
For while thou spinnest thy life away,
I weave a web in a single day.
Examine it well, each airy line
Is as fine and fair as the best of thine."
"True," said the Silkworm, with a smile,
"But will they endure for half the while?"
(Iriarte, Literary Fables. Translated for Blackwood's Magazine.)
WITH a ravenous pack of Dogs at his back,
A Rabbit fled—or flew;
For his course was as fleet as if his four feet
Were winged, like Mercury's two.
