The Kite and the Nightingale

A noted thief, the kite, / Had set a neighbourhood in fright, / And raised the clamorous noise / Of all the village boys, / When, by misfortune, -- sad to say, -- / A nightingale fell in his way. / Spring's herald begg'd him not to eat / A bird for music -- not for meat. / 'O spare! ' cried she, 'and I'll relate / 'The crime of Tereus and his fate. ' -- / 'What's Tereus? [1] Is it food for kites? ' -- / 'No, but a king, of female rights / The villain spoiler, whom I taught / A lesson with repentance fraught; / And, should it please you not to kill, / My song about his fall / Your very heart shall thrill, / As it, indeed, does all. ' -- / Replied the kite, a 'pretty thing! / When I am faint and famishing, / To let you go, and hear you sing? ' -- / 'Ah, but I entertain the king! ' -- / 'Well, when he takes you, let him hear / Your tale, full wonderful, no doubt; / For me, a kite, I'll go without. ' / An empty stomach hath no ear.[2][3]

[1]: _What's Tereus? _ -- See story of Tereus Philomela and Progne, in Ovid's _Metamorphoses_. -- See also Fable XV., Book III., and Note.