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THE FOX AND CRANE. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe’s Works, vol. 1 (Poems) [1885]

Edition used:

Goethe’s Works, illustrated by the best German artists, 5 vols. (Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1885). Vol. 1.

Part of: Goethe’s Works, 5 vols.

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THE FOX AND CRANE.

lf0841-01_figure_093
    • ONCE two persons uninvited
    • Came to join my dinner table;
    • For the nonce they liv’d united,
    • Fox and crane yclept in fable.
    • Civil greetings pass’d between us;
    • Then I pluck’d some pigeons tender
    • For the fox of jackal genus,
    • Adding grapes in full-grown splendor.
    • Long-neck’d flasks I put as dishes
    • For the crane, without delaying,
    • Fill’d with gold and silver fishes,
    • In the limpid water playing.
    • Had ye witness’d Reynard planted
    • At his flat plate, all demurely,
    • Ye with envy must have granted:
    • “Ne’er was such a gourmand, surely!”
    • While the bird with circumspection
    • On one foot, as usual, cradled,
    • From the flasks his fish-refection
    • With his bill and long neck ladled.
    • One the pigeons prais’d,—the other,
    • As they went, extoll’d the fishes,
    • Each one scoffing at his brother
    • For preferring vulgar dishes.
    • * * * * *
    • If thou would’st preserve thy credit,
    • When thou askest folks to guzzle
    • At thy board, take care to spread it
    • Suited both for bill and muzzle.