“Alas! Alas!” exclaimed the hares,
“We live in trembling dread
Of men and foxes, wolves and bears –
We would be better dead!”
So saying, with long bounds and leaps
They hurried to lake,
For surely, in the cool, wet deeps,
No fear would ever wake.
But as they ran, they saw the fridht
Of frantic things beyond,
When frogs, before their racing might,
Plunged headlong in a pond.
“Ah,” said the hares, “it’s plain to see.
We must endure and seek.
However frail our kind may be,
Others are still more weak!”
