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Title: The Kite And The Nightingale
Author: Jean de La Fontaine [
More Titles by La Fontaine]
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? 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.[A]
NOTE
[A] _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.
[The end]
Jean de La Fontaine's poem: Kite And The Nightingale
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