FABLE LVI.
Reading edition
THE CUR, THE HORSE, AND THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.
A Village Cur, of snappish race, The pertest puppy in the place, Imagined that his treble throat Was blessed with music's sweetest note; In the mid road he basking lay, The yelping nuisance of the way; For not a creature passed along, But had a sample of his song. Soon as the trotting steed he hears, He starts, he cocks his dapper ears; Away he scours, assaults his hoof; Now near him snarls, now barks aloof; With shrill impertinence attends; Nor leaves him till the village ends. It chanced, upon his evil day, A Pad came pacing down the way; The Cur, with never-ceasing tongue, Upon the passing traveller sprung. The Horse, from scorn provoked to ire, Flung backward; rolling in the mire, The Puppy howled, and bleeding lay; The Pad in peace pursued his way. A Shepherd's Dog, who saw the deed, Detesting the vexatious breed, Bespoke him thus: "When coxcombs prate, They kindle wrath, contempt, or hate; Thy teasing tongue, had judgment tied, Thou hadst not like a Puppy died."
MORAL.
Too late the forward youth will find That jokes are sometimes paid in kind; Or, if they canker in the breast, He makes a foe who makes a jest.