10 SELECT POETRY

And there came the Moth, in his plumage of down,
And the Hornet, in jacket of yellow and brown,

Who with him the Wasp his companion did bring;
But they promised that evening to lay by their sting.

And the sly little Dormouse crept out of his hole,

And led to the feast his blind brother, the Mole ;

And the Snail, with his horns peeping out from
his shell,

Came from a great distance—the length of an ell.

A mushroom their table, and on it was laid

A water-dock leaf, which a tablecloth made;

The viands were various, to each of their taste,

And the Bee brought his honey to crown the
repast.

There, close on his haunches, so solemn and wise,
The Frog from a corner looked up to the skies ;
And the Squirrel, well pleased such diversion to sec,
Sat cracking his nuts overhead in a tree,

Then out came a Spider, with fingers so fine,

To show his dexterity on the tight line;

From one branch to another his cobweb he slung,
Then as quick as an arrow he darted along.

But just in the middle, oh ! shocking to tell !

From his rope in an instant poor Harlequin fell ;

Yet ho touched not the ground, but with talons!
outspread,

Hung suspended in air at the end of a thread.

1 Tclons—claws,