The Domineering Eagle And The Inventive Bratling

O'er a small suburban borough     Once an eagle used to fly,     Making observations thorough     From his station in the sky,     And presenting the appearance     Of an animated V,     Like the gulls that lend coherence     Unto paintings of the sea.     Looking downward at a church in     This attractive little shire,     He beheld a smallish urchin     Shooting arrows at the spire;     In a spirit of derision,     "Look alive!" the eagle said;     And, with infinite precision,     Dropped a feather on his head.     Then the boy, annoyed distinctly     By the freedom of the bird,     Voiced his anger quite succinctly     In a single scathing word;     And he sat him on a barrow,     And he fashioned of this same     Eagle's feather such an arrow     As was worthy of the name.     Then he tried his bow, and, stringing     It with caution and with care,     Sent that arrow singing, winging     Towards the eagle in the air.     Straight it went, without an error,     And the target, bathed in blood,     Lurched, and lunged, and fell to terra     Firma, landing with a thud.     "Bird of freedom," quoth the urchin,     With an unrelenting frown,     "You shall decorate a perch in     The menagerie in town;     But of feathers quite a cluster     I shall first remove for Ma:     Thanks to you, she'll have a duster     For her precious objets d'art."     And THE MORAL is that pride is     The precursor of a fall.     Those beneath you to deride is     Not expedient at all.     Howsoever meek and humble     Your inferiors may be,     They perchance may make you tumble,     So respect them. Q. E. D.