Page 24 - Poetry-Animals

The Mouse and the Lion

One summer day, a hungry little mouse,
Who thoroughly had searched all through the house,
Looking in vain for some small bit or scrap,
Went out-of-doors, and fell into a trap.

‘Twas nicely baited with a piece of cheese;
The door stood wide; he crept with perfect ease
Close up to where the tempting morsel hung,
One nibble, and the cruel trap was sprung.

Just then a noble lion he chanced to see,
Who traveled with a large menagerie,
And early every morning left his lair
And strolled about to take the country air.

With trembling voice he called on him for aid.
“Why, certainly, of course,” the lion said.
“It seems some thousand years or so ago
Your ancestor helped one of mine, you know.

“It now becomes my duty to repay
The favor shown to him, without delay.”
He raised his foot, and with his mighty tread
He crushed the trap, and left poor mousie—dead.

It oft occurs that over-zealous friends,
Who strive to help us to attain our ends,
With very best intentions overdo it,
And often give us ample cause to rue it.

— Robert S. Talcott (Century Magazine, 1884)

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