" EQUALITY AND HIERARCHY"
SIR,—
I'm not sure if I was quite awake, Or whether I'll win your credence, But once in a' tangled forest brake Methought I heard the ends of a snake Debating about precedence.
The tail spoke first : " Shall we never be through This desert of briars and brambles?
A b ovo, sir, I have followed you,
And this is what you have brought me to!
I call it a filthy shambles.
The time has come to defeudalise Ophidian constitution And move tail first." But the head replies: " In view of the fact that you've got no eyes I reject the resolution."
Says Cauda : " Why should I need to see, When I'm blessed with all the sinew? Suppose I twist round the nearest tree, Would you make progress in spite of me?
Why, you haven't got it in you."
But Caput's temper was getting frayed: "There's a limit: you've o'erstepped it.
Ancestral custom must be obeyed. Your motion is simply retrograde: I never can accept it."
"In that case surely it's time we split."
And they did. But which was dafter? Some think the tail had the smaller wit, Per he came to a hole, fell into it, And was never heard of after.
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