Fable Or History
Possessed of royal appetite, and feeling rather thin,
A monkey one day dressed himself in a tiger's
The tiger had been nasty; the monkey was atrocious,
Wearing on his back the right to be ferocious.
He set himself to gnashing teeth and let loose with this cry:
Conqueror of the jungle, the night's dark king am I!
As a bandit of the forest, in the bushes he lurked,
And snatched away and murdered and other horrors worked.
Laid waste the forest, slit the throats of those passing through,
And with the skin that covered him did all it used to do.
He lived within a cave, knee-deep in butchery,
And all who saw the skin believed the tiger was he.
He would cry out, would bring forth a truly terrible roar:
Behold within my cave the bones of victims before.
Before me all draw back and shudder, everyone doth flee,
All tremble - I am tiger!
Look! and worship me!
The animals were all awe-struck and fled with great alarm,
A lion-tamer came and grabbed him with his arm,
And ripped off the tiger's skin like a flimsy piece of tissue,
Laid bare this "conqueror" and said, "You're just a monkey, you!"
Victor Marie Hugo
Other author posts
Depuis quatre mille ans il tombait dans labîme
(Et nox facta est, I)Depuis quatre mille ans il tombait dans l'abîme Il n'avait pas encor pu saisir une cime, Ni lever une fois son front démesuré
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Take heed of this small child of earth; He is great; he hath in him God most high Children before their fleshly birth Are lights alive in the blue sky In our light bitter world of wrong They come;
Ultima Verba My Last Word
Quand même grandirait l'abjection publiqueA ce point d'adorer l'exécrable trompeur ; Quand même l'Angleterre et même Diraient à l'exilé : - Va-t'en nous avons peur
More Strong Than Time
Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet, Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid, Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it, And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade; Since it was given t...
