Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431357" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Cradle</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">NEAR Rome, of yore, close to the Florence road,<br>Was seen a humble innkeeper's abode;<br>Small sums were charged; few guests the night would stay;<br>And these could seldom much afford to pay.<br>A pleasing active partner had the host<br>Her age not much 'bove thirty at the most;<br>Two children she her loving husband bore;<br>The boy was one year old: the daughter more;<br>Just fifteen summers o'er her form had smiled;<br>In person charming, and in temper mild.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IT happened that Pinucio, young and gay,<br>A youth of family, oft passed the way,<br>Admired the girl, and thought she might be gained,<br>Attentions showed, and like return obtained;<br>The mistress was not deaf, nor lover mute;<br>Pinucio seemed the lady's taste to suit,<br>Of pleasing person and engaging air;<br>And 'mong the equals of our youthful fair,<br>As yet, not one a pref'rence had received;<br>Nor had she e'er in golden dreams believed;<br>But, spite of tender years, her mind was high,<br>And village lads she would not let come nigh.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">COLUTTA, (such her name,) though much admired;<br>And many in the place her hand desired,<br>Rejected some, and others would not take,<br>And this most clearly for Pinucio's sake.<br>Long conversations she could rarely get,<br>And various obstacles the lovers met;<br>No interviews where they might be at ease,<br>But ev'ry thing conspired to fret and teaze.<br>O parents, husbands! be advised by me;<br>Constraint with wives or children won't agree;<br>'Tis then the god of love exerts his art,<br>To find admittance to the throbbing heart.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">PINUCIO and a friend, one stormy night,<br>The landlord's reached and would in haste alight;<br>They asked for beds, but were too late they found:<br>You know, sir, cried the host, we don't abound;<br>And now the very garrets we have let:<br>You'd better elsewhere try your wish to get,<br>And spite of weather, further on pursue<br>At best, our lodging is unfit for you.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">HAVE you no truckle bed? the lover cried;<br>No corner left?--we fain would here abide:<br>Why, truly, said the host, we always keep<br>Two beds within the chamber where we sleep;<br>My wife and I, of course, take one of these;<br>Together lie in t'other if you please.<br>The spark replied, this we will gladly do;<br>Come, supper get; that o'er, the friends withdrew:<br>Pinucio, by Coletta's sage advice,<br>In looking o'er the room was very nice;<br>With eagle-eyes particulars he traced,<br>Then 'tween the clothes himself and friend he placed.<br>A camp-bed for the girl was on the floor;<br>The landlord's, 'gainst the wall and next the door;<br>Another opposite the last was set,<br>And this, to guests, at certain times was let;<br>And 'tween the two, but near the parents' best,<br>A cradle for the child to rest its head,<br>From which a pleasant accident arrived,<br>That our gallant's young friend of rest deprived.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHEN midnight came, and this gay spark supposed<br>The host and hostess' eyes in sleep were closed,<br>Convinced the time appointed was at hand,<br>To put in execution what was planned,<br>He to the camp-bed silently repaired,<br>And found the belle by Morpheus not insnared;<br>Coletta taught a play that mortals find<br>Fatigues the body more than plagues the mind:<br>A truce succeeded, but 'twas quickly o'er:<br>Those rest not long who pilfer Cupid's store.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">AGAIN, when to the room the hostess came,<br>And found the cradle rested not the same,<br>Good heav'ns! cried she, it joins my husband's head:<br>And, but for that, I truly had been led<br>To lay myself unthinkingly beside<br>The strangers whom with lodging we provide;<br>But, God be praised, this cradle shows the place<br>Where my good husband's pillow I must trace.<br>This said, she with the friend was quickly laid,<br>Without suspecting what mistake she'd made.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">BETWEEN the lovers all was blithe and gay,<br>When suddenly the friend, though far from day,<br>Was forced to rise ('twas plain a pressing case,)<br>And move the infant's cradle from its place,<br>To ope the door, and lest he noise might make,<br>Or any way by chance the child should wake,<br>He set it carefully beside his bed,<br>And (softly treading) to the garden sped.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ON his return he passed the cradle by;<br>To place it as before he would not try,<br>But went to sleep; when presently a sound,<br>From something that had tumbled, rang around,<br>Awoke his wife, who ran below,<br>That what had happened she might clearly know.<br>No fool in such adventures was our Wight:<br>The opportunity he would not slight,<br>But played the husband well: no, no, I'm wrong;<br>He played it ill:--too oft, too much, too long;<br>For whosoe'er would wish to do it well,<br>Should softly go:--the gentle most excel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IN truth, the wife was quite surprised to find<br>Her spouse so much to frolicking inclined;<br>Said she, what ails the man, he's grown so gay?<br>A lad of twenty's not more fond of play.<br>Well! let's enjoy the moments while we can;<br>God's will be done, since life is but a span!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE words were scarcely said, when our gallant<br>Renewed his fun, and nothing seemed to want;<br>Indeed, the hostess still her charms possessed,<br>And, on occasion, well might be caressed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MEANWHILE Coletta, dreading a surprise,<br>Prevailed upon her paramour to rise;<br>'Twas nearly break of day when he withdrew,<br>But, groping to his place the way anew,<br>Pinucio, by the cradle too, was led<br>To miss his friend's and take the landlord's bed.<br>No sooner in than with an under voice,<br>(Intriguers oft too eagerly rejoice,)<br>Said he, my friend, I wish I could relate<br>The pleasure I've received; my bliss is great;<br>To you, I'm sorry, Fortune proves so cold;<br>Like happiness I'd fain in you behold;<br>Coletta is a morsel for a king;<br>Inestimable girl!--to me she'll cling.<br>I've many seen, but such a charming fair,<br>There's not another like her any where.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH softest skin, delightful form and mien;<br>Her ev'ry act resembles BEAUTY's queen;<br>In short, before we'd ended with our fun,<br>Six posts (without a fiction) we had run.<br>The host was struck with what the spark averred,<br>And muttered something indistinctly heard.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE hostess whispered HIM she thought her spouse:--<br>Again, my dear, such sparks let's never house;<br>Pray don't you hear how they together chat?--<br>Just then the husband raised himself and sat;<br>Is this your plan? said he with mighty rage;<br>Was it for THIS you would my house engage?<br>You understand me, but I'll seek redress;<br>Think you so very cheap to have success?<br>What, would you ruin families at will,<br>And with our daughters take at ease your fill?<br>Away, I say! my house this moment quit;<br>And as for You, abominable chit,<br>I'll have your life: this hour you breathe your last;<br>Such creatures only can with beasts be classed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">PINUCIO heard the lecture with dismay,<br>At once was mute, and grew as cold as clay;<br>A moment's silence through the room prevailed;<br>Coletta trembled, and her lot bewailed.<br>The hostess now, on ev'ry side perceived<br>Her peril great, and for the error grieved.<br>The friend, howe'er, the cradle called to mind,<br>Which caused the many ills we've seen combined,<br>And instantly he cried:--Pinucio! strange<br>You thus allow yourself about to range;<br>Did I not tell you when the wine you took,<br>'Twould make many sad misfortunes hook?<br>Whene'er you freely drink, 'tis known fall well,<br>Your sleep's disturbed, you walk, and nonsense tell.<br>Come, come to bed: the morning soon will peep;<br>Pinucio took the hint, pretended sleep,<br>And carried on so artfully the wile,<br>The husband no suspicion had of guile.<br>The stratagem our hostess likewise tried,<br>And to her daughter's bed in silence hied,<br>Where she conceived her fortress was so strong,<br>She presently began to use her tongue,<br>And cried aloud:--Impossible the fact;<br>Such things he could not with Coletta act;<br>I've with her been in bed throughout the night,<br>And she, no more than I, has swerved from right;<br>'Twere mighty pretty, truly, here to come;<br>At this the host a little while was dumb;<br>But in a lower tone at length replied<br>I nought with your account I'm satisfied.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE party rose; the titter circled round;<br>And each sufficient reason for it found;<br>The whole was secret, and whoe'er had gained,<br>With care upon the subject mute remained.</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>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<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=431357" data-title="The Cradle de La Fontaine" data-description="NEAR Rome, of yore, close to the Florence road,
Was seen a humble innkeeper's abode;
Small sums were charged; few guests the night would stay;
And these could seldom much afford to pay.
A pleasing active partner had the host
Her age not much 'bove..."></div>
</div>
</div>