{"sf1_id":1829185,"sf2_id":"qmy4OLRe","title":"Fables \u0026 Follies","author":"Corvid_Conquest","words":439,"posted_at":"2022-03-12T15:59:00.000Z","tags":["Adaptation","Bird","Boar","Cat","Crane","Fables","Feather","Follies","Fox","Frog","Lion","Maxim","Mice","Mouse","Peacock","Poem","Poems","Poetry","Proverb","Satire","Short","Stories","Verse","Versification","aesop","animal","bell","english","furry","language","literature","moral","narrative","text","vulture"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1829185-fables-follies","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/qmy4OLRe","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/34/17/341791bc-ef0c-41e5-b319-927193382144","description":"#1 of Verse Fables\n\nFour adaptations from Aesop's Fables into English verse. I'm getting back to my roots on this one.","content":" **The Lion \u0026 The Boar**\n\nTwo beasts arrive to drink at summer's height,\n\nThe boar and lion find a flowing stream,\n\nBut then they clash with brutal words and fight\n\nTo be the first to drink and reign supreme.\n\nBut vultures perch within a nearby tree\n\nTo watch them fight and wait for one to die;\n\nThe boar and lion turn around to see\n\nThese birds above that circle in the sky.\n\nThe morbid thought of vultures at a feast\n\nUpon their flesh defused the tension there,\n\nAnd peace returned unto these once mad beasts\n\nWhile soon the birds took flight to other air.\n\nRecall in hostile times the sage instruction:\n\nResist the urge to rage and sure destruction.\n\n* * *\n\n**The Mice In Council**\n\nA group of mice had learned to fear\n\nThe cat that always followed near.\n\nSo all the mice would make a plan;\n\nThe rodent council soon began.\n\nFor many views were spoken there,\n\nYet all were met with great despair;\n\nUntil one stood to then respond\n\nWith plans of which most mice were fond.\n\n\"The cat's a lethal creature, yes,\n\nAnd that's a fact I will confess;\n\nBut only when he's being sly,\n\nOf which I have a grand reply.\n\nWe'll simply tie a bell around\n\nHis neck to warn us with its' sound!\"\n\nThe mice were cheering at the thought;\n\nThey loved this answer quite a lot.\n\nBut one then rose to challenge that,\n\nAnd asked \"But who will bell the cat?\"\n\nThe grander goals, proposed with ease,\n\nRequire more than words to seize.\n\n* * *\n\n**The Peacock \u0026 The Crane**\n\nThe peacock spied a crane of duller shade;\n\nHe deemed her less among the creatures made.\n\n'T was then he flared and flashed his plumage fine.\n\n\"Your plumes may catch the eye far more than mine\"\n\nThe crane replied, \"But when it comes to flight,\n\nMy wings allow for me to soar in height.\n\nAlthough I may be dull compared to you,\n\nMy feathers serve a greater purpose too.\"\n\n* * *\n\n**The Frog \u0026 The Fox**\n\nA frog had claimed the doctor's art,\n\nWith skills to cure an ailing heart,\n\nAn ailing mind, or ailing frame;\n\nFor healing illness was his game;\n\nWith all these boasts achieving fame.\n\nOne day in selling to a crowd\n\nOf beasts the cures which made him proud,\n\nA fox sprang up and laughed out loud:\n\n\"Don't buy from such a useless hack;\n\n\"This doctor's nothing more than quack!\n\n\"He's sick himself, and yet he'll preach\n\n\"Upon the cures outside his reach!\n\n\"So put these words upon your shelf:\"\n\nThen scoffed, \"Physician, heal thyself!\"\n\n  \n  \n\n"}