I am a humble suitor; snake-catcher thou’dst see.
If e’er a snake I catch, I still extract its fangs,
That harm may never follow, when its head one bangs.
Those fangs are enemies to every serpent’s life,
When I extract them, then, I make him free from strife.”115
“I never will submit to spell of lust and greed.
For cov’tousness I’ve conquered. Its maw I’ll not feed.
Thank God that greed is not among my sins, at least.
Contentment fills my heart;—a true, perpetual feast.
Thou lookest at the crown of pear-tree full of fruit,