The Acorn and the Pumpkin – Jean De La Fontaine Fables

The Acorn and the Pumpkin - Jean De La Fontaine Fables

The Acorn and the Pumpkin - Jean De La Fontaine Fables

Once there was a country bumpkin

Who observed a great big pumpkin

To a slender stem attached;

While upon an oak…

 

“If, despite my humble station,

I’d a hand in this Creation,

Pumpkins on the oaks would be;

And the acorn, light and little,

On this pumpkin stem so brittle

Would be placed by clever Me.”
The Acorn and the Pumpkin - Jean De La Fontaine Fables
Then, fatigued with so much thought, he

Rest beneath the oak tree sought. He

Soon in slumber found repose

But, alas! An acorn, falling

On the spot where he lay sprawling,

Hit him–plump!–Upon the nose.

The Acorn and the Pumpkin - Jean De La Fontaine Fables
Gosh! he said. Suppose a pumpkin came a-fallin on my face!

Up he jumped–a wiser bumpkin.

“Gosh!” he said. “Suppose a pumpkin

Came a-fallin’ on my face!

After all, if I had made things,

I’ll allow that I’m afraid things

Might be some what out of place.”
Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks Adapted from the French of La Fontaine. Written by, W. T. Larned Illustrated by, John Rae.  New York, July 1918.

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