Why? That is not your business, sir, ’twas theirs!
He called the elephants for counsellors—still
The council-board was incomplete;
And the king deemed it fit
With asses all the vacancies to fill.
Heaven help the state—for lo! the bench of asses
The bench of elephants by far surpasses.
He was a fool, the foresaid king, you’ll say:
Better have kept those places vacant surely,
Than fill them up so poorly.