The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid

As went the goat her pendent dugs to fill, / And browse the herbage of a distant hill, / She latch'd her door, and bid, / With matron care, her kid; -- / 'My daughter, as you live, / This portal don't undo / To any creature who / This watchword does not give: / "Deuce take the wolf and all his race! " / The wolf was passing near the place / By chance, and heard the words with pleasure, / And laid them up as useful treasure; / And hardly need we mention, / Escaped the goat's attention. / No sooner did he see / The matron off, than he, / With hypocritic tone and face, / Cried out before the place, / 'Deuce take the wolf and all his race! ' / Not doubting thus to gain admission. / The kid, not void of all suspicion, / Peer'd through a crack, and cried, / 'Show me white paw before / You ask me to undo the door. ' / The wolf could not, if he had died, / For wolves have no connexion / With paws of that complexion. / So, much surprised, our gormandiser / Retired to fast till he was wiser. / How would the kid have been undone / Had she but trusted to the word / The wolf by chance had overheard! / Two sureties better are than one; / And caution's worth its cost, / Though sometimes seeming lost.[1]

[1]: Corrozet; and others.