THE FRENCH WOLF AND THE SIAMESE LAMB.
An Old Fable with a New Setting.
A little lamb lived by a flowing stream.
A great temptation, when the heat was torrid,
To thirsty souls that water's limpid gleam.
At least so thought a Wolf, of aspect horrid,
Who, having for some time abstained and fasted,
Desired to learn how lamb—and water—tasted.
He felt with pinching want his paunch was pining,
Early he'd lunched, so longed the more for dining.
A Cochin China rooster, lank and thin,
Or something indigestible from Tonquin,
For a big, sharp-set Wolf, are snacks, not meals;
So down the sparkling river Lupus steals,
Quite uninvited, but intent on forage,
Fronting the fleecy flocks with wondrous courage;
For whether in the Southdowns, or Siam,
By the near Medway, or the far Menam,
Your Wolf is most courageous—with your Lamb!
With joy the Lamb he spied, then, growling, said,
"Sirrah! how dare you thus disturb my drink?"
The Lamb, in answer, meekly bowed its head—
"I trouble not the water, Sir, I think,
Particularly as I'm sure you'll see
It flows—observe the drift—from you to me!
You're welcome in the stream to slake your thirst,
But, may I just observe, I was here first!"
"Oh! you chop logic!" cried the angry brute.
"I can chop, too:—you've done me other wrong.
Young Mutton, best with me not to dispute!
You've given me already too much tongue.
Are you the home-born boss of all Siam,
Of fleet Mekong, and many-creek'd Menam?"
Mildly young woolly-face replied, "I am!"
His optics orientally oblique,
Rolling in manner sheepish, soft, and meek.
"Oh, are you?" snarled the Wolf. "We'll see about it!
'Twixt Western Wolf and Oriental Lamb
Equality is a preposterous flam:
Do you—as Tonquin did—presume to doubt it?
Fraternity? Well, I'm your elder brother;
And Liberty—to you—means nought but bother.
See, silly-face?" "Well, no," the Lamb replied,
"Such reciprocity seems all one side.
Not six o' one and half a dozen o' 'tother!"
"Pooh!" snapped the Wolf. "Logic's clear terra firma
Is not for Lambkin, but for Wolf or Lion.
If you such little games with me should try on,
I'd treat you—well, as Bull did little Burmah.
I have imperative claims; I'm going to state 'em
With lupine brevity in an ultimatum.
That—after some two days—must stand as Law;
If after that you give me any jaw,
My little Mutton—well, beware my maw!"
Moral.
This truth my simple Fable doth attest,
He who has strongest jaw argues the best!
At Daly's.—The Comedy Love in Tandem ought to have been in three shorter Acts. Mr. Lewis excellent, so is Mrs. Gilbert, who has not more than ten words to say, but a lot to act. Spanish widow also good. Mr. Bourchier is a marvellous example of the "Walking Gentleman," being perpetually on the move. It is gratifying to see him sit down for even a few seconds. Like the engineer of the penny steamboat in the burlesque of Kenilworth, he "has very much to larn"; but this fact need not discourage him, any more than it did Mr. Henry Irving, according to Mr. Percy Fitzgerald's recently published book of Irvingite Recollections, at the commencement of his career. Miss Rehan is, par excellence, the life and soul of the piece; and when there has been, in her absence, a dull moment or two, she re-enters and Rehanimates the whole.
"Swimming has been much neglected in the British Navy," observed Mr. Philooly. "When there's a Parliament in Dublin we'll pass a law that not a sailor shall leave terra firma till he can swim."
