Wolf & Cub, c.444 BC.

The moral of the story was turned on
Its head when they said of the boy and wolf
Cub hid under his linen robe, rubbing
Up against his stomach wall and gnawing
While child were ignoring in full view of
Spartan Military tutor that he
Should be complaining for such explaining

          And here I do claim it was poetry
          Not prose, that the fallacy by which we
          Were brought to misunderstand the story
          And its moral, and the Hellenes for sure
          Were more poetic than prosaic in their

Ways, so that where the story says he was
Staunch and up-right, it mayn't be right of us
To believe it were not us who explained,
Translated, what may have been debated

Around dining hall tables of fables
And stated there, that, for all the Spartan
Did care for Warrior Attitude, an
Higher Concern for Elder Boys to learn
Were that of the Phalanx and City-State,

          Would be of more value than complaining
          Not, and, were it a Fellow Warrior
          Pressing up on another Boy, stealing
          Food or other necessity for more
          Life to continue in the City-State,
          A Wolf by any other image just
          As Morally Ungenerated as
          Were the Young Boys fated to take recourse,

Which would have them strong but not not die too
Soon nor too late, and so to complain not
Would never be forgot, and it lead to
Rot, such that, in Dicken's days, Victoria's,
Where childs were to work put to work theirselves
To death, to translate an image and morals
To overgive that willed such peasants to lives
That aristocrats, well-educated, might
Rue, well, that simply would not do, but should

        You not complain if your Class Mate were bullied
        And everyone suffered thereby to die,
        Well, it would be discussed around tables no more
        And some latter day bore might translate core
        Text as more text, and finial at that.