1When royal

Fergus’s line1

did rule this realm,

2

My father had the third place at the helm2

.

3Out of the

privy kitchen3

came his

meat4

;

4Of sixteen dishes he might daily eat.

5All things that were in season

out were sought5

.

6Amongst the rest they

Wallfleet oysters6

brought;

7Which, being set ready till my father comes,

8A mouse leaps on the table for the crumbs;

9Then, skipping up and down, her tail did glide

10By chance betwixt the shells;

’twas then full tide7

.

11The oyster, feeling one within her house,

12Clapped close her doors, and thus she catched the mouse.

13O, that I now could speak the

Micean tongues8

,

14Or

Frogian language9

! But I want such lungs

15As

he that writ the dismal bloody fights10

16Betwixt the Frogian and the Micean knights.

17Surely no women, and I think few men,

18Can

dance so well as he11

with

feet12

and pen;

19But he those tongues, as I have heard, did seek

20Before he learned the Latin or the Greek.

21But now the captive mouse her dubious fate

22In my own mother tongue I must relate.

23As her imprisonment came by

a flow13

,

24So the next

happy14

tide did let her go.

25Oh, wonderful! Who would have ever thought

26That from

the Delian twins15

help should be brought?

27Then let us learn, while flesh doth here

immure16

28Our sinful souls—not think our selves secure.

29As

this dull fish17

was torn up from a rock,

30This

sprightly18

mouse in prison thus to lock,

31So, from a

vulgar19

, one may rise to reign

32That many a noble spirit may restrain.

33This is too true; yet let them patient be,

34For tide, or time, or death, will set them free.

35Then trust in God,

extol20

Him day and night:

36For sun, and moon, and stars, shall for thee fight.