The Mouse and the Elephant

A PERT young Mouse, but just arrived From Athens, where some time he'd lived; And daily to the portico, To pick up learning, used to go; Vain of the wisdom he had stored, And of the books he had devoured; Puffed up with pride and self-conceit, And proud to show his little wit, Thus to an Elephant, one day, He took it in his head to say:—

"Nay, not so pompous in your gait, Because Dame Nature made you great; I tell you, sir, your mighty size Is of no value in my eyes;— Your magnitude, I have a notion, Is quite unfit for locomotion; When journeying far, you often prove How sluggishly your feet can move. Now, look at me: I'm made to fly; Behold, with what rapidity I skip about from place to place, And still unwearied with the race; But you—how lazily you creep, And stop to breathe at every step! Whenever I your bulk survey, I pity—" What he meant to say, Or with what kind of peroration He'd have concluded his oration, I cannot tell; for, all at once, There pounced upon the learned dunce An ambushed Cat; who, very soon, Experimentally made known, That between Mice and Elephants There is a mighty difference.