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Fable

by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1899

The MOUNTAIN and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig;’
Bun replied,
‘You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I ’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I ’ll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.’

Published in The Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson
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