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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431396" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Truckers</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE change of food enjoyment is to man;<br>In this, t'include the woman is my plan.<br>I cannot guess why Rome will not allow<br>Exchange in wedlock, and its leave avow;<br>Not ev'ry time such wishes might arise,<br>But, once in life at least, 'twere not unwise;<br>Perhaps one day we may the boon obtain;<br>Amen, I say: my sentiments are plain;<br>The privilege in France may yet arrive<br>There trucking pleases, and exchanges thrive;<br>The people love variety, we find;<br>And such by heav'n was ere for them designed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ONCE there dwelled, near Rouen, (sapient clime)<br>Two villagers, whose wives were in their prime,<br>And rather pleasing in their shape and mien,<br>For those in whom refinement 's scarcely seen.<br>Each looker-on conceives, LOVE needs not greet<br>Such humble wights, as he would prelates treat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IT happened, howsoe'er, both weary grown,<br>Of halves that they so long had called their own;<br>One holyday, with them there chanced to drink<br>The village lawyer (bred in Satan's sink);<br>To him, said one of these, with jeering air,<br>Good mister Oudinet, a strange affair<br>Is in my head: you've doubtless often made<br>Variety of contracts; 'tis your trade:<br>Now, cannot you contrive, by one of these,<br>That men should barter wives, like goods, at ease?<br>Our pastor oft his benefice has changed;<br>Is trucking wives less easily arranged?<br>It cannot be, for well I recollect,<br>That Parson Gregory (whom none suspect)<br>Would always say, or much my mem'ry fails,<br>My flock 's my wife: love equally prevails;<br>He changed; let us, good neighbour do the same;<br>With all my heart, said t'other, that's my aim;<br>But well thou know'st that mine's the fairest face,<br>And, Mister Oudinet, since that's the case,<br>Should he not add, at least, his mule to boot?<br>My mule? rejoined the first, that will not suit;<br>In this world ev'ry thing has got its price:<br>Mine I will change for thine and that 's concise.<br>Wives are not viewed so near; naught will I add;<br>Why, neighbour Stephen, dost thou think me mad,<br>To give my mule to boot?--of mules the king;<br>Not e'en an ass I'd to the bargain bring;<br>Change wife for wife, the barter will be fair;<br>Then each will act with t'other on the square.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE village lawyer now the friends addressed:<br>Said he, Antoinetta is confessed<br>To have superior charms to those of Jane;<br>But still, if I may venture to be plain,<br>Not always is the best what meets the eye,<br>For many beauties in concealment lie,<br>Which I prefer; and these are hid with care;<br>Deceptions, too, are practised by the FAIR;<br>Howe'er, we wish the whole to be disclosed,<br>Too much, 'tis said, they must not be exposed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">NOW, neighbours, let us fair arrangement make:<br>A pig in poke you'd neither give nor take;<br>Confront these halves in nature's birth-day suit;<br>To neither, then, will you deceit impute.<br>The project was most thoroughly approved;<br>Like inclination both the husbands moved.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ANTOINETTA, said the second spouse,<br>Has neither ill nor scratch her fears to rouse.<br>Jane, cried the first, is ev'ry way complete;<br>No freckles on the skin: as balm she's sweet:<br>Antoinetta is, her spouse replied,<br>Ambrosia ev'ry way: no fault to hide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SAID t'other:--Don't so confident appear;<br>Thou know'st not Jane: her ways would marble cheer;<br>And there's a play:--thou understand'st no doubt?<br>To this rejoined the second village lout,<br>One diff'rence only have my wife and I:<br>Which plays the prettiest wiles is what we try;<br>Thou'lt very soon of these know how to think;<br>Here's to thee, neighbour; Mister Oud'net, drink;<br>Come, toast Antoinetta; likewise Jane;<br>The mule was granted, and the bargain plain:<br>Our village lawyer promised to prepare,<br>At once, the writings, which would all declare.<br>This Oudinet a good apostle proved<br>Well paid for parchment, or he never moved:<br>By whom was payment made?--by both the dames;<br>On neither husband showed he any claims.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE village clowns some little time supposed<br>That all was secret: not a hint disclosed;<br>The parson of it, howsoe'er, obtained<br>Some intimation, and his off'rings gained.<br>I was not present, fully I admit;<br>But rarely clergymen their dues will quit.<br>The very clerk would not remit his fee:--<br>All those who serve the church in this agree.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE permutation could not well be made,<br>But scandal would such practices upbraid;<br>In country villages each step is seen;<br>Thus, round the whisper went of what had been,<br>And placed at length the thorn where all was ease;<br>The pow'rs divine alone it could displease.<br>'Twas pleasant them together to behold;<br>The wives, in emulation, were not cold;<br>In easy talk they'd to each other say:<br>How pleasing to exchange from day to day!<br>What think you, neighbour, if, to try our luck,<br>For once we've something new, and valets truck?<br>This last, if made, the secret had respect;<br>The other had at first a good effect.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">FOR one good month the whole proceeded well;<br>But, at the end, disgust dispersed the spell;<br>And neighbour Stephen, as we might suppose,<br>Began dissatisfaction to disclose;<br>Lamented much Antoinetta's stop;<br>No doubt he was a loser by the swop;<br>Yet neighbour Giles expressed extreme regret,<br>That t'other from him ought to boot should get:<br>Howe'er, he would retrucking not consent,<br>So much he otherwise appeared content.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IT happened on a day, as Stephen strayed<br>Within a wood, he saw, beneath a shade,<br>And near the stream, asleep, and quite alone,<br>Antoinetta, whom he wished his own.<br>He near her drew, and waked her with surprise;<br>The change ne'er struck her when she ope'd her eyes;<br>The gay gallant advantage quickly took,<br>And, what he wished, soon placed within his hook.<br>'Tis said, he found her better than at first;<br>Why so? you ask: was she then at the worst?<br>A curious question, truly, you've designed;<br>In Cupid's am'rous code of laws you'll find--<br>Bread got by stealth, and eat where none can spy,<br>Is better far than what you bake or buy;<br>For proof of this, ask those most learn'd in love<br>Truth we prefer, all other things above;<br>Yet Hymen, and the god of soft desire,<br>How much soe'er their union we admire,<br>Are not designed together bread to bake;<br>In proof, the sleeping scene for instance take.<br>Good cheer was there: each dish was served with taste;<br>The god of love, who often cooks in haste,<br>Most nicely seasoned things to relish well;<br>In this he's thought old Hymen to excel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ANTOINETTA, to his clasp restored,<br>Our neighbour Stephen, who his wife adored,<br>Quite raw, howe'er, in this, exclaimed apart<br>Friend Giles has surely got some secret art,<br>For now my rib displays superior charms,<br>To what she had, before she left my arms.<br>Let's take her back, and play the Norman trick<br>Deny the whole, and by our priv'lege stick.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IMMEDIATELY he ev'ry effort tried,<br>To get the bargain fully set aside.<br>Giles, much distressed, exerted all his might,<br>To keep his prize, and prove his conduct right.<br>The cause was carried to the bishop's court;<br>Much noise it made, according to report.<br>At length the parliament would hear the claim,<br>And judge a case of such peculiar fame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE village lawyer, Oudinet, was brought;<br>From him, who drew the contract, truth was sought;<br>There rests the cause, for 'tis of recent date;<br>While undecided, more we cannot state.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">HOW silly neighbour Stephen must appear!<br>He went against his int'rest now 'tis clear;<br>For, when superior pleasure he was shown,<br>The fascinating fair was not his own.<br>Good sense would whisper then, 'twere full as well,<br>To let remain with Giles the beauteous belle;<br>Save now and then, within the leafy shade,<br>Where oft Antoinetta visits made,<br>And warbled to the shrubs and trees around;<br>There he might easily the nymph have found,<br>But, if with ease it could not be obtained,<br>Still greater pleasure he would then have gained.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">GO preach me this to silly country louts;<br>These, howsoe'er, had managed well their bouts,<br>It must not be denied, and all was nice;<br>To do the like perhaps 'twill some entice.<br>I much regret my lot was not the same,<br>Though doubtless many will my wishes blame.</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=431396" data-title="The Truckers de La Fontaine" data-description="THE change of food enjoyment is to man;
In this, t'include the woman is my plan.
I cannot guess why Rome will not allow
Exchange in wedlock, and its leave avow;
Not ev'ry time such wishes might arise,
But, once in life at least, 'twere not unwise;..."></div>
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