immediately transferreth the resources of its ingenuity against
the other, not willing that any should escape its cruel snares,

"These men that have foolishly alienated themselves from a good
and kind master, to seek the service of so harsh and savage a
lord, that are all agog for present joys and are glued thereto,
that take never a thought for the future, that always grasp after
bodily enjoyments, but suffer their souls to waste with hunger,
and to be worn with myriad ills, these I consider to be like a
man flying before the face of a rampant unicorn, who, unable to
endure the sound of the beast's cry, and its terrible bellowing,
to avoid being devoured, ran away at full speed. But while he
ran hastily, he fell into a great pit; and as he fell, he
stretched forth his hands, and laid hold on a tree, to which he
held tightly. There he established some sort of foot-hold and
thought himself from that moment in peace and safety. But he
looked and descried two mice, the one white, the other black,
that never ceased to gnaw the root of the tree whereon he hung,
and were all but on the point of severing it. Then he looked
down to the bottom of the pit and espied below a dragon,
breathing fire, fearful for eye to see, exceeding fierce and
grim, with terrible wide jaws, all agape to swallow him. Again
looking closely at the ledge whereon his feet rested, he
discerned four heads of asps projecting from the wall whereon he
was perched. Then he lift up his eyes and saw that from the
branches of the tree there dropped a little honey. And thereat
he ceased to think of the troubles whereby he was surrounded;
how, outside, the unicorn was madly raging to devour him: how,
below, the fierce dragon was yawning to swallow him: how the
tree, which he had clutched, was all but severed; and how his