1. Among the strangest tales, a rabbit spied
A cock insulting fox, from high astride

2. A wall. Though safe, the rabbit wondered whether
The mocker's impotence allowed his tether

3. Of weakness to now tolerate the jeerer.
So to the fox it drew, with curses nearer,

4. Like the cock's, describing all earth's duped souls.
The fox then rent the feeble prey in holes,

5. As his brother the wolf would rend a lamb.
He said, feasting on blood, to the cock's slam,

6. "Your death consoles me for the cock's rude jest."
The cock then turned and spoke with chest out-dressed:

7. "Not all are helped by a loose tongue. Mankind
Often speaks only by the state we're in."