You Better Watch Your Cheese

Image from http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu

“LIMBERG.”

On a tree there sat a crow,
In his bill a chunk of cheese;
On the ground a fox, below,
Said, “Some music, if you please.
You are beautiful of wing,
And I bet that you can sing.”
Cheered by flattery, the crow
Sang, and dropped the cheese below,
Then the cunning fox did freeze
To the fallen chunk of cheese;
And he calmly lugged it off,
And he scoffed the song with scoff.

MORAL.

When they pat you on the back,
When they say that you’re the one;
When they say they’re on the track,
“And have been obliged to run;”
When their compliments denote
They are going for your vote,
You can do just as you please,
But — you’d better watch your cheese.

The Ohio Democrat (New Philadelphia, Ohio) Jul 17, 1874

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From Wikipedia: “The Fox and the Crow” is a fable attributed to Aesop.

Moral of the story: Never trust a flatterer…or a politician on the campaign trail.

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**I found this illustrated version as one piece on picsdigger.com. Their source was steinerbooks.org, but I couldn’t locate on that site.

Tags: 1874, Aesop Fables, Fox and Crow, Political Poetry