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The Kite And The Nightingale.
By Jean de La Fontaine
[1]
A noted thief, the kite,
Had set a neighbourhood in fright,
And raised the clamorous noise
Of all the village boys,
When, by misfortune, - sad to say, -
A nightingale fell in his way.
Spring's herald begg'd him not to eat
A bird for music - not for meat.
'O spare!' cried she, 'and I'll relate
'The crime of Tereus and his fate.' -
'What's Tereus?[2] Is it food for kites?' -
'No, but a king, of female rights
The villain spoiler, whom I taught
A lesson with repentance fraught;
And, should it please you not to kill,
My song about his fall
Your very heart shall thrill,
As it, indeed, does all.' -
Replied the kite, a 'pretty thing!
When I am faint and famishing,
To let you go, and hear you sing?' -
'Ah, but I entertain the king!' -
'Well, when he takes you, let him hear
Your tale, full wonderful, no doubt;
For me, a kite, I'll go without.'
An empty stomach hath no ear.[3]
Extra Info:
[1] Abstemius; also Aesop.
[2] What's Tereus? - See story of Tereus Philomela and Progne, in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
[3] An empty stomach hath no ear. - Cato the Censor said in one of his speeches to the Romans, who were clamouring for a distribution of corn, "It is a difficult task, my fellow-citizens, to speak to the belly, because it hath no ears." - Plutarch's Life of Cato (Langhorne's ed.). "The belly has no ears, nor is it to be filled with fair words." - Rabelais, Book IV., ch. 63.
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