Explore "The Swan and the Cook" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The pleasures of a poultry yard / Were by a swan and gosling shared. / The swan was kept there for his looks, / The thrifty gosling for the cooks; / The first the garden's pride, the latter / A greater favourite on the platter. / They swam the ditches, side by side, / And oft in sports aquatic vied, / Plunging, splashing far and wide, / With rivalry ne'er satisfied. / One day the cook, named Thirsty John, / Sent for the gosling, took the swan, / In haste his throat to cut, / And put him in the pot. / The bird's complaint resounded / In glorious melody; / Whereat the cook, astounded / His sad mistake to see, / Cried, 'What! make soup of a musician! / Please God, I'll never set such dish on. / No, no; I'll never cut a throat / That sings so sweet a note.'
'Tis thus, whatever peril may alarm us, / Sweet words will never harm us.[1]
[1]: Aesop.