Fable XXIV. The Bees and the Silk-Worms

ONE day the bees ascended to Oljrmput, and presented themfelres at the foot of the throne of! Jove, beseeching him to consider the care they had I taken of his infancy, when they fed him with their honey upon mount Ida. Jupiter was ready to grant them the firfl honours among all little animals: bat Minerva, who presides over arts, rcprefented to him, that there was another species, which disputed with the bees the glory of useful inventions. Jove would know their name: silk-worms, answered Ihe. straight* way, the first of gods ordered Mercury to wast upon the wings of the gentle zephyrs, deputies from that diminutive people, that he might hear the arguments ^ on both sides.

The bee, ambaiTadrcfs of her nation, represented the sweetness of the honey, which is the nedbar of men; i its usefulness, the art with which it is composed; thea ihe extolled the wisdom of the laws, which regulate the fl3riQg republic of bees; no other fpecics of animals, said the oratrefs, can boast this glory, and it is a reward for having nourished, in a cave, the father of the gods; moreover, we have our share of martial ▼alour, when our King animates our troops in the field; how ihould these worms, vile and contemptible infedts, dare to dispute precedency with us? they, can only crawl upon the ground, while we take a noble flight, and, with our gilded wings> soar to the very stars.

The speaker of the (ilk-worms replied; we are but little worms, 'tis true; and have neither fo great courage for war, nor such wife laws; but every one of us (hews the wonders of nature, and wastes itself in useful toil; without laws we live in peace, nor are any civil wars ever to be seen amongst us, while the bees are killbg one another at every change of King: by Proteus' virtue we can change our form; now we are little worms, composed of eleven small rings, interwoven with a variety of the liveliest colours that are admired in the flowers of a parterre; then we spin wherewithal to clothe the gayest and greatefl of men, even upon the throne, and wherewithal to adorn the temples of the gods; this fo beautiful and fo lading attire, is surely worth abundance of honey, which corrupts fo quickly; last of all, we transform ourselves into a bean, but a bean which feels, which moves, and f6 THE lEIS AND THE SlLK-WOEM^.

always speaks fodde life; after tbefe marvellous me-' tamorphofesy we become all at once butterflies, and shine illuflrious with the brightest colours.; and then do we no longer yield to the bees in soaring, with advent'rous flight, as far as high Olympus, judge now, O father of gods. Jupiter, at a loss about the ded-sion, declared, at length, that the bees should hold the firfl rank, on account of the rights they had acquired from ancient times, how, said he, can I degrade them? I have been too much obliged to them to do them such indignity; but I believe that men owe Ilili more to the silk*worms.

THE OWL

THAT

WANTED A WIFE.