FOUR FABLES OF LA FONTAINE
Translated
by
Marianne Moore
THE SWAN AND THE COOK (Book Three, XII)
Of the miscellany
In a man's aviary,
A swan swam and a goose waddled:
One a sublime sight that made the garden complete;
Or so the owner thought; and one, a bird to eat.
One enhanced the flowers; one stayed near the house and puddled .
They would ornament the moat simultaneously,
Now and then side by side or were seen converging;
At times merely drifting, again were submerging,
Apparently looking for something illusory.
One day the cook, who had had an extra drop,
Took the swan for the goose, held it up
By the neck, would have cut its throat and had it simmering;
But at the point of death , it burst into song so ravishing
The astonished cook perceived
That his dulled eyes had been deceived
And said, "What! make so sweet a singer into soup!
Dear, dear; God forbid murder to which my hand could stoop.
Close a throat whose uses are delectable!"
So when the horseman is hovered by perils too dire to outleap,
Sweet speech does no harm; none at all.
THE SERPENT AND THE FILE (Book Five, XVI)
A snake, so they say, lived near a watchmaster;
(Rather unfortunate for a man with just that work.)
The serpent glided in for something to stay hunger.
However, his flickering fork
