The Ass and the Little Dog

One's native talent from its course / Cannot be turned aside by force; / But poorly apes the country clown / The polish'd manners of the town. / Their Maker chooses but a few / With power of pleasing to imbue; / Where wisely leave it we, the mass, / Unlike a certain fabled ass, / That thought to gain his master's blessing / By jumping on him and caressing. / 'What! ' said the donkey in his heart; / 'Ought it to be that puppy's part / To lead his useless life / In full companionship / With master and his wife, / While I must bear the whip? / What doth the cur a kiss to draw? / Forsooth, he only gives his paw! / If that is all there needs to please, / I'll do the thing myself, with ease. ' / Possess'd with this bright notion, -- / His master sitting on his chair, / At leisure in the open air, -- / He ambled up, with awkward motion, / And put his talents to the proof; / Upraised his bruised and batter'd hoof, / And, with an amiable mien, / His master patted on the chin, / The action gracing with a word -- / The fondest bray that e'er was heard! / O, such caressing was there ever? / Or melody with such a quaver? / 'Ho! Martin! [1] here! a club, a club bring! ' / Out cried the master, sore offended. / So Martin gave the ass a drubbing, -- / And so the comedy was ended.[2]

[1]: _Martin_. -- La Fontaine has "Martin-bâton," a name for a groom or ostler armed with his cudgel of office, taken from Rabelais.