1. On a narrow bridge one day
Two ewes met face to face

2. Each too proud to make way
Neither willing to give place

3. One sharply cried, "Make way!
I'll not budge from this spot I grace."

4. The other answered with disdain
"Not I! Though your bleating fills the plain."

5. So they stayed where they first stood
Locking horns in hatred, they fought

6. Until both fell in the flood
And were drowned, as their folly taught.

7. At last they cried in pain and grief
As the waters dragged them down,

8. "If we had been meek and brief,
We would not have earned this drowning."

9. Let gentleness and calm appear
In all our deeds and speech. For here

10. Harshness and hate will end in fear,
And wisdom lies in tolerance, my dear.