Fables & Parables

The following six samples from the Fables and Parables, in English translation, may illustrate Krasicki's work:

The Eagle and the Hawk

Eagle, not wishing to incommode himself with chase,

Decided to send hawk after sparrows in his place.

Hawk brought him the sparrows, eagle ate them with pleasure;

At last, not quite sated with the dainties to measure,

Feeling his appetite growing keener and keener —

Eagle ate fowl for breakfast, the fowler for dinner.

The Lion and the Beasts

Lion, in order to give evidence of his grace,

Invited his intimates to join him in the chase.

They hunted together, and as token of favor

Lion ate meat and let his comrades the bones savor.

His beneficence having thus become established,

Inasmuch as to show them more favor yet he wished,

That they might more fully appreciate their leader,

Lion gave them leave to devour one of their number.

After the first, a second, a third, a fourth vanished.

Seeing the beasts grown fat, lion though scarcely famished,

So's to restrain their predations and blot out his shame,

Ate them one and all in justice and decorum's name.

The Little Fish and the Pike

Espying a worm in the water, the little fish

Did greatly regret the worm could not become his dish.

Up came a pike and made his preparations to dine;

He swallowed both worm and hook, which he failed to divine.

As the angler pulled ashore his magnificent prize,

Quoth the little fish: "Sometimes good to be undersize."

Two Dogs

"Why do I freeze out of doors while you sleep on a rug?"

Inquired the bobtail mongrel of the fat, sleek pug.

"I have run of the house, and you the run of a chain,"

The pug replied, "because you serve, while I entertain."

The Humble Lion

'Tis bad at master's court to lie, bad the truth to tell.

Lion, intent on showing all that he was humble,

Called for open reproaches. Said the fox: "Your great vice

Is that you're too kind, too gracious, excessively nice."

The sheep, seeing lion pleased by fox's rebuke, said:

"You are a cruel, voracious tyrant." — and she was dead.

The Lamb and the Wolves

Aggression ever finds cause if sufficiently pressed.

Two wolves on the prowl had trapped a lamb in the forest

And were about to pounce. Quoth the lamb: "What right have you?"

"You're toothsome, weak, in the wood. — The wolves dined sans ado.

The above English translations by Christopher Kasparek appear with the permission of the translator.