Not Such a Sweet Revenge*

A farmer was getting fed up with a fox.

He despised him like the dickens.

The fox prowled around his farm

Every night and ate his chickens.

 

And so the farmer set a trap

And caught the fox and said, "Aha!

You're going to regret all you've done.

This attempt was your last hurrah."

 

To get his revenge, the farmer tied

A bunch of flax to the fox's tail,

Set it on fire, and let him go,

Saying, "My revenge can't fail!"

 

The fox ran straight for the farmer's field

Where the corn was growing tall.

The fields were almost ready for cutting,

For summer was slowly turning to fall.

 

As you probably figured out,

All of the farmer's fields caught fire.

His crops were destroyed and he lost his harvest--

A situation extremely dire.

 

The fox? Well, he survived

And went away of his own accord.

The farmer, broken and devastated,

Learned that revenge is a two-edged sword.

-by Bob B (8-23-21)

*An Aesop fable, "The Farmer and the Fox," retold here in verse