Bishop Daniel’s Fables, XVIII

The Bream (I. A. Krylov, “Leshchi”)

A rich man’s pond was stocked with bream.
The life was happy, like a dream –
No cares or worries, only fun:
To swim and frollick in the sun
In crystal water and to play
Among themselves. But then, one day,
Their master had a hungry school
Of pike released among his bream.
His trusted friend began to scream:
“They’ll eat your bream! Are you a fool?
Or, maybe, you have lost your wits?”
The master readily admits
Knowing the pike’s voracious greed. –
“But I am at a loss, indeed,
What makes you think that I must like
Bream more than pike?”

+++

Sometimes the people in high places
(Some people call them ‘the big acres’)
Astonish us with acts that seem
Unwise in the extreme –
Something like putting pike with bream;
They are not foolish, these ‘great powers’,
Only their aim
Is not the same
As ours