A Wolf, encountering a wildered Lamb,
Astray and helpless, far from fold and dam,
Declared: " Sirrah, last year you baa-ed at me;
For this I think I will be eating thee. "
" O no indeed, " the Lamb began to mourn;
" Last year, believe me. Wolf, I wasn't born. "
" You feed in pastures that belong to me:
For this, then, Lambkin, I'll be eating thee. "
" O no indeed, " the creature cried; " alas —
For up to now I've never tasted grass. "
" But of my well you drink, and this shall be
Sufficient reason for my eating thee. "
" O no indeed, I've drunk no water yet;
My mother's milk is all the drink I get. "
Whereat the Wolf he seized and ate and said:
" But still I won't go supperless to bed. "

MORAL

The tyrant ever finds his last excuse,
When logic fails him, in some private use.