The will Explained by Aesop

If what old story says of Aesop's true, / The oracle of Greece he was, / And more than Areopagus[1] he knew, / With all its wisdom in the laws. / The following tale gives but a sample / Of what has made his fame so ample. / Three daughters shared a father's purse, / Of habits totally diverse. / The first, bewitched with drinks delicious; / The next, coquettish and capricious; / The third, supremely avaricious. / The sire, expectant of his fate, / Bequeathed his whole estate, / In equal shares, to them, / And to their mother just the same, -- / To her then payable, and not before, / Each daughter should possess her part no more. / The father died. The females three / Were much in haste the will to see. / They read, and read, but still / Saw not the willer's will. / For could it well be understood / That each of this sweet sisterhood, / When she possess'd her part no more, / Should to her mother pay it o'er? / 'Twas surely not so easy saying / How lack of means would help the paying. / What meant their honour'd father, then? / Th' affair was brought to legal men, / Who, after turning o'er the case / Some hundred thousand different ways, / Threw down the learned bonnet, / Unable to decide upon it; / And then advised the heirs, / Without more thought, t' adjust affairs. / As to the widow's share, the counsel say, / 'We hold it just the daughters each should pay / One third to her upon demand, / Should she not choose to have it stand / Commuted as a life annuity, / Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity. ' / The thing thus order'd, the estate / Is duly cut in portions three. / And in the first they all agree / To put the feasting-lodges, plate, / Luxurious cooling mugs, / Enormous liquor jugs, / Rich cupboards, -- built beneath the trellised vine, -- / The stores of ancient, sweet Malvoisian wine, / The slaves to serve it at a sign; / In short, whatever, in a great house, / There is of feasting apparatus. / The second part is made / Of what might help the jilting trade -- / The city house and furniture, / Exquisite and genteel, be sure, / The eunuchs, milliners, and laces, / The jewels, shawls, and costly dresses. / The third is made of household stuff, / More vulgar, rude, and rough -- / Farms, fences, flocks, and fodder, / And men and beasts to turn the sod o'er. / This done, since it was thought / To give the parts by lot / Might suit, or it might not, / Each paid her share of fees dear, / And took the part that pleased her. / 'Twas in great Athens town, / Such judgment gave the gown. / And there the public voice / Applauded both the judgment and the choice. / But Aesop well was satisfied / The learned men had set aside, / In judging thus the testament, / The very gist of its intent. / 'The dead,' quoth he, 'could he but know of it, / Would heap reproaches on such Attic wit. / What! men who proudly take their place / As sages of the human race, / Lack they the simple skill / To settle such a will? ' / This said, he undertook himself / The task of portioning the pelf; / And straightway gave each maid the part / The least according to her heart -- / The prim coquette, the drinking stuff, / The drinker, then, the farms and cattle; / And on the miser, rude and rough, / The robes and lace did Aesop settle; / For thus, he said, 'an early date / Would see the sisters alienate / Their several shares of the estate. / No motive now in maidenhood to tarry, / They all would seek, post haste, to marry; / And, having each a splendid bait, / Each soon would find a well-bred mate; / And, leaving thus their father's goods intact, / Would to their mother pay them all, in fact,' -- / Which of the testament / Was plainly the intent. / The people, who had thought a slave an ass, / Much wonder'd how it came to pass / That one alone should have more sense / Than all their men of most pretence.[2]

[1]: _Areopagus._ -- This was the Athenian Court of Justice at Mars Hill. It is said to have been called _Areiopagos_ (the Hill of Mars) because, according to tradition, the first trial there was that of Mars for the murder of Halirrhotius.