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Abstemius's Fables (Sir Roger L'Estrange)

279. (Abstemius 26) An Eagle and a Pye.

There was a pert-dapper Spark of a Mag-Pye, that fancy'd the Birds would never be well govern'd till he himself should come to sit at the Helm. In this Freak he petition'd the Eagle to take him into his Cabinet; for, says he, I have no ill turn of a Body for't. I have my Tongue and my Heels at command; and can make as much Noise and Bussle, to as little Purpose, as any He perhaps that flies between a Pair of Wings. He was going on in the History of his Qualifications, when the Eagle graciously told him, how sensible he was of the Volubility both of his Tongue, and of his Manners, and so of his Faculties and good Breeding; but, says he, you are so confoundedly given to Squirting up and down, and Chattering, that the World would be apt to say, I had chosen a Jack Pudding for a Prime Minister.
Great Babblers, or Talkers are a sort of People not fit either for Trust, Business or Conversation.

 


Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists: Abstemius's Fables by Sir Roger L'Estrange. Available online at Google Books.