'
'O witless, deluded, perfidious, crafty wolf,' answered the fox,
'hope not for deliverance, for this is but the just reward of thy
foul dealing.' Then he laughed from ear to ear and repeated the
following verses:
A truce to thy strife to beguile me! For nothing of me shalt thou
gain. Thy prayers are but idle; thou sowedst Vexation; so
reap it amain.
'O gentlest of beasts of prey,' said the wolf, 'I deem thee too
faithful to leave me in this pit.' Then he wept and sighed and
recited the following verses, whilst the tears streamed from his
eyes:
O thou, whose kindnesses to me are more than one, I trow, Whose
bounties unto me vouchsafed are countless as the sand,
No shift of fortune in my time has ever fall'n on me, But I have
found thee ready still to take me by the hand.
'O stupid enemy,' said the fox, 'how art thou reduced to humility
and obsequiousness and abjection and submission, after disdain
and pride and tyranny and arrogance! Verily, I companied with
thee and cajoled thee but for fear of thy violence and not in
hope of fair treatment from thee: but now trembling is come upon
thee and vengeance hath overtaken thee.' And he repeated the
following verses:
O thou that for aye on beguiling art bent, Thou'rt fall'n in the
snare of thine evil intent.
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