The Portland Gazette

POETRY.
THE HERON.
A fable for Young Ladies
From La Fontaine
Ye nymphs of beauty vain, attend,
-For you the muse her tale has penn'd :-
A heron, stately, tall, and proud,
Upon a river's margin stood;
The wind was still, the water clear,
And Pike and Carp were sporting near,
So carelessly, he need but stoop,
And snap the glittering captives up.
"No, no, my stomach's not so sharp,
(Quoth he,) to set my mouth to Carp' ;
I'll wait for something, better, yet,
Before I'll condescend to eat."
In little time his stomach came
Again, long shanks to the stream ;
No pike nor carp—some tench appear'd
But could not tempt our dainty bird.
"Tench: poh! who'd bear such
nauseous food!
Forever grovelling in the mud!
Fie ! I detest the filthy carrion!
What! tench a dinner for a heron?"
When, near the margin he approach'd,
Behold, his tench are chang'd to roaches,
"Oh yes," our heron cries, "tis like,
I, who have scorn'd tench, carp, and pike,
Should so demean myself as to touch,
However hungry, pinch'd, a roach."
Mean time away the roaches swam,
And in their room some bleaks appear.
"What ! foul my beak with such as you!
From bad to worse will never do."
Before his vain harangue was done,
The bleaks, like those before, were gone ;
Till baulk'd of every kind of fish,
"Twas vain to watch, 'Twas vain to wish,
For e'en the worst he had refus'd :
Poor dainty chops was now reduc'd
Within a filthy ditch to grope,
And fill with meanest snails his crop.
MORAL.
Now,maids, who'd know the interpretation
Make to yourselves the application:-
No longer for a BETTER wait,
But profit by the heron's FATE.