Mountain fable

In this fable – written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement – a squirrel and a mountain have an argument!

 Download audio 1MB (right click & save)

Mountain fable

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 as 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."

by Ralph Waldo Emerson