Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine — Volume 18 by Jean de La Fontaine
page 8 of 22 (36%)
page 8 of 22 (36%)
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SHOULD you, good reader, any person meet,
With rosy, smiling looks, and cheeks replete, The form not clumsy, you may safely say, A Papimanian doubtless I survey. But if, on t'other side, you chance to view, A meagre figure, void of blooming hue, With stupid, heavy eye, and gloomy mien Conclude at once a Pope-figer, you've seen. POPE-FIG 'S the name upon an isle bestowed, Where once a fig the silly people showed, As like the pope, and due devotion paid:-- By folly, blocks have often gods been made! These islanders were punished for their crime; Naught prospers, Francis tells us, in their clime; To Lucifer was giv'n the hateful spot, And there his country house he now has got. His underlings appear throughout the isle, Rude, wretched, poor, mean, sordid, base, and vile; With tales, and horns, and claws, if we believe, What many say who ought not to deceive. ONE day it happened that a cunning clown Was by an imp observed, without the town, To turn the earth, which seemed to be accurst, Since ev'ry trench was painful as the first. This youthful devil was a titled lord; In manners simple:--naught to be abhorred; He might, so ignorant, be duped at ease; As yet he'd scarcely ventured to displease: |
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