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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431342" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Neighbour Peter's Mare</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">A CERTAIN pious rector (John his name),<br>But little preached, except when vintage came;<br>And then no preparation he required<br>On this he triumphed and was much admired.<br>Another point he handled very well,<br>Though oft'ner he'd thereon have liked to dwell,<br>And this the children of the present day,<br>So fully know, there's naught for me to say:<br>John to the senses things so clearly brought,<br>That much by wives and husbands he was sought,<br>Who held his knowledge of superior price,<br>And paid attention to his sage advice.<br>Around, whatever conscience he might find,<br>To soft delights and easy ways inclined,<br>In person he would rigidly attend,<br>And seek to act the confessor and friend;<br>Not e'en his curate would he trust with these;<br>But zealously he tried to give them ease,<br>And ev'ry where would due attention show,<br>Observing that divines should always know<br>Their flocks most thoroughly and visit round;<br>To give instruction and the truth expound.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">AMONG the folks, to whom he visits paid,<br>Was neighbour Peter, one who used the spade;<br>A villager that God, in lieu of lands,<br>Had furnished only with a pair of hands,<br>To dig and delve, and by the mattock gain<br>Enough his wife and children to maintain.<br>Still youthful charms you in his spouse might trace;<br>The weather injured solely had her face,<br>But not the features which were perfect yet:<br>Some wish perhaps more blooming belles to get;<br>The rustick truly me would ne'er have pleased;<br>But such are oft by country parsons seized,<br>Who low amours and dishes coarse admire,<br>That palates more refined would not desire.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE pastor John would often on her leer,<br>just as a cur, when store of bones are near,<br>That would good pickings for his teeth afford,<br>Attentively behold the precious hoard,<br>And seem uneasy; move his feet and tail;<br>Now prick his ears; then fear he can't prevail,<br>The eyes still fixed upon the bite in sight,<br>Which twenty times to these affords delight,<br>Ere to his longing jaws the boon arrives,<br>However anxiously the suitor strives.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SELF-TORMENTS solely parson John obtained;<br>By seeing her that o'er his senses reigned.<br>The village-wife was innocent of this,<br>And never dreamed of any thing amiss;<br>The pastor's mystick looks, nor flatt'ring ways;<br>Nor presents, aught in Magdalene could raise;<br>But nosegays made of thyme, and marj'ram too,<br>Were dropt on ground, or never kept in view;<br>A hundred little cares appeared as naught<br>'Twas Welch to her, and ne'er conveyed a thought.<br>A pleasant stratagem he now contrived,<br>From which, he hoped, success might be derived.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MOST clearly Peter was a heavy lout,<br>Yet truly I could never have a doubt,<br>That rashly he would ne'er himself commit,<br>Though folly 'twere from him to look for wit,<br>Or aught expect by questioning to find<br>'Yond this to reason, he was not designed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE rector to him said, thou'rt poor, my friend,<br>And hast not half enough for food to spend,<br>With other things that necessary prove,<br>If we below with comfort wish to move.<br>Some day I'll show thee how thou may'st procure<br>The means that will thy happiness insure,<br>And make thee feel contented as a king.<br>To me what present for it wilt thou bring?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ZOOKS! Peter answered, parson, I desire,<br>You'll me direct to do as you require;<br>My labour pray command; 'tis all I've got;<br>Our pig howe'er to you we can allot,<br>We want it not; and truly it has eat<br>More bran than thrice this vessel would complete;<br>The cow you'll take besides, from which my wife<br>A calf expects, to raise the means of life.<br>No, no, the pastor with a smile replied,<br>A recompense for this thou'lt not provide;<br>My neighbour to oblige is all I heed;<br>And now I'll tell thee how thou must proceed;<br>Thy spouse, by magick, I'll transform each day,<br>And turn her to a mare for cart or dray,<br>And then again restore her ev'ry night,<br>To human form to give thy heart delight.<br>From this to thee great profit will arise;<br>Thy ass, so slow is found, that when supplies,<br>It carries to the market, 'tis so late,<br>The hour is almost past ere at the gate,<br>And then thy cabbages, and herbs, and roots,<br>Provisions, provender, and wares and fruits,<br>Remain unsold, and home to spoil are brought,<br>Since rarely far from thence such things are sought.<br>But when thy wife's a mare, she'll faster go:<br>Strong, active, ev'ry way her worth she'll show,<br>And home will come without expense in meat:<br>No soup nor bread, but solely herbs she'll eat:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SAID Peter, parson, clearly you are wise;<br>From learning, what advantages arise!<br>Is this pray sold?--If I'd much money got,<br>To make the purchase I'd the cash allot.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">CONTINUED John:--now I will thee instruct,<br>The proper manner, matters to conduct,<br>For thee to have a clever mare by day,<br>And still at night a charming wife survey;<br>Face, legs, and ev'ry thing shall reappear;<br>Come, see it done, and I'll perform it here;<br>Thou'lt then the method fully comprehend;<br>But hold thy tongue, or all will quickly end:<br>A single word the magick would dispel,<br>And, during life, no more with us 'twould dwell.<br>Keep close thy mouth and merely ope' thy eyes:<br>A glimpse alone to learn it will suffice;<br>This o'er, thyself shall practise it the same,<br>And all will follow as when first it came.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE husband promised he would hold his tongue;<br>And John disliked deferring matters long.<br>Come, Magdalene, said he, you will undress;<br>To quit those Sunday-clothes, you'll acquiesce,<br>And put yourself in Nature's pure array<br>Well, well, proceed; with stays and sleeves away;<br>That's better still; now petticoats lay by;<br>How nicely with my orders you comply.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHEN Magdalene was to the linen come,<br>Some marks of shame around her senses swum;<br>A wife to live and die was her desire,<br>Much rather than be seen in Eve's attire;<br>She vowed that, spite of what the priest disclosed;<br>She never would consent to be exposed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SAID Peter, pretty work, upon my truth:--<br>Not let us see how you are made forsooth!<br>What silly scruples!--Are they in your creed?<br>You were not always led such scenes to heed:<br>Pray how d'ye manage when for fleas you seek?<br>'Tis strange, good sir, that she should be so weak;<br>What can you fear?--'tis folly time to waste;<br>He will not eat you: come, I say, make haste:<br>Have done with haggling; had you acted right,<br>Ere now the parson all had finished quite.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ON saying this, her garment off he took;<br>Put on his spectacles to overlook;<br>And parson John, without delay, began;<br>Said he (as o'er her person now he ran),<br>This part umbilical will make the mare<br>A noble breast, and strength at once declare:<br>Then further on the pastor placed his hand,<br>While, with the other, (as a magick wand,)<br>He set about transforming mounts of snow;<br>That in our climes a genial warmth bestow,<br>And semi-globes are called, while those that rise<br>In t'other hemisphere, of larger size,<br>Are seldom mentioned, through respect no doubt,<br>But these howe'er the parson, quite devout,<br>Would not neglect, and whatsoe'er he felt,<br>He always named, and on its beauties dwelt;<br>The ceremony this, it seems, required,<br>And fully ev'ry movement John admired.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">PROCEEDINGS so minute gave Peter pain,<br>And as he could not see the rector gain<br>The slightest change, he prayed the pow'rs divine,<br>To give assistance to the priest's design;<br>But this was vain, since all the magick spell,<br>In metamorphosing the lady well,<br>Depended on the fixing of the tail;<br>Without this ornament the whole would fail.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To set it on the parson hastened now,<br>When Neighbour Peter 'gan to knit his brow,<br>And bawled so loud, you might have heard him far:<br>No tail, said he, I'll have: there'll be a scar;<br>You put it on too low; but vain his cries,<br>The husband's diligence would not suffice,<br>For, spite of ev'ry effort, much was done,<br>And John completely his career had run,<br>If Peter had not pulled the rector's gown,<br>Who hastily replied, thou ninny, clown;<br>Did I not tell thee silence to observe,<br>And not a footstep from thy station swerve?<br>The whole is spoiled, insufferable elf!<br>And for it thou hast got to thank thyself.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE husband, while the holy pastor spoke,<br>Appeared to grumble and his stars invoke.<br>The wife was in a rage, and 'gan to scold:<br>Said she to Peter, wretch that I behold!<br>Thou'lt be through life a prey to pain and grief,<br>Come not to me and bray and hope relief,<br>The worthy pastor would have us procured<br>The means that might much comfort have ensured.<br>Can he deserve such treatment to receive?<br>Good Mister John this goose I now would leave,<br>And ev'ry morning, while he gathers fruits,<br>Or plants, herbs, cabbages, and various roots,<br>Without averting him, pray, here repair,<br>You'll soon transform me to a charming mare.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No mare, replied the husband, I desire;<br>An ass for me is all that I require.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=La+Fontaine">La Fontaine</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431342" data-title="Neighbour Peter's Mare de La Fontaine" data-description="A CERTAIN pious rector (John his name),
But little preached, except when vintage came;
And then no preparation he required
On this he triumphed and was much admired.
Another point he handled very well,
Though oft'ner he'd thereon have liked to dwe..."></div>
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