# Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable LXXVIII to LXXX

Fab. LXXVIII.
A Camel Praying for Horns.
IT stuck filthily in the Camel's Stomach, that Bulls, Stags, Lions, Bears, and the like, should be Armed with Horns, Teeth, and Claws, and that a Creature of his Size should be left Naked and Defenceless. Upon This Thought he fell down upon his Mary-bones, and begg d of Jupiter to give him a pair of Horns, but the Request was so Ridiculous, that Jupiter, instead of Horning him, Order'd him to be Cropt, and so Punish’d him with the loss of his Ears which Nature had Allow’d him, for being so Unreasonable as to Ask for Horns, that Providence never intended him.
Fab. LXXIX.
A Fox and a Hare to Jupiter.
A Fox and a Hare Presented a Petition to Jupiter. The Fox pray’d for the Hares Swiftness of Foot, and the Hare for the Fox's Craft, and Wilyness of Address. Jupiter told them, that since every Creature had some Advantage or Other Peculiar to it self, it would not stand with Divine Justice, that had provided so well for Every One in Particular, to Conferr All upon any One.
Fab. LXXX.
A Peacock to Juno.
THE Peacock, they say, lay'd it Extremely to Heart, that being Juno's Darling-Bird, he had not the Nightingale’s Voice superadded to the Beauty of his own Plumes. Upon This Subject he Petition'd his Patroness, who gave him for Answer, that Providence had Assign’d Every Bird its Proportion, and so bad him Content himself with his Lot.
The Moral of the Three Fables above.
REFLEXION.
In These Three Fables, is set forth the Vanity of Unnatural Wishics, and Foolish Prayers; which are not only to be Rejected, bur they deserve also to be Punish’d. Providence has made an Equal Distribution of Natural Gifts, whereof each Creature severally has a share; and it is not for This or That Particular to pretend to All: So that Considering the Equality of the Division, No Creature has Cause, either to Boast, or to Complain. We are never Content with the Bounty of Providence. One would have a Voice; T’other Gay Cloaths; and while Every Man would have All, we Charge Providence with Injustice for not giving to Every Man Alike. Socrates was in the Right in Saying, That in a Case a Man were to go where he should have the Choice before him, of All the Ill Things and All the Good Things in Nature, he would come home again the same Man that he went out.
It is to be Noted, upon the Distribution of the Matter of These Three Fables that the Camel prays for Weapons Ossensive, and Defensive, either for the Encount’ring of Dangers, or the Repelling of them. The Fox and the Hare, for the Means of Avoiding them. And the Peacock for a Voice, answerable to his Beauty. And All their Prayers are to No Purpose, but to the Reproche of the Petitioners, and to the Confusion of Vain Desires, What is All This but an Appeale from Heaven to Heaven it self; and Petitioning Providence against Providence, in a Recourse from One Providence to Another? The Determinations and Appointments of Heaven are no more to be Disputed and Controll’d, then they are to be made Better, and Emprov'd; And we must not Presume to Judge of the Goodness and Justice of Heaven, by the Frailties and Corruptions of Flesh and Blood. We were not of Councel with the Almighty, either in the Making, or in the Regulating of the World, and we have no more Right to Advise him in the Governing of it. The Power, in fine, that Rules in the Nature of Things is no other then a Divine Influence.
Why should not the Nightingale Envy the Peacock's Train as well as the Peacock Envy the Nightingale's Note? And why should not All the Works of the Creation Expostulate at the same Rate, and upon the same Grounds? Why has not Man the Wings of an Eagle to carry him from Danger, or to satissie his Curiosity what the World's a doing? Why has he not the Sagacity of a Dog, the Paw of a Lyon; The Terth of a Leopard; The Heeles of a Courser, and the like? And have not Brute Animals the same Equity of Complaint on the Other Hand, for want of the Facultics and Advantages, Intellectual, and Moral of Mankind? So that here's a Civil War that runs thorough All the Parts of the Universe, where Nothing is pleased with it's Own Lot; And no Remedy at last; but by New Moulding the World over again. This Inordinate Appetite has been the Overthrow of many a Kingdom, Family and Commonwealth.
To Ask Impossibilities, in fine, is Ridiculous, and to Ask Things Unnatural is Impious; for to take upon us to Blame, or Mend the Works of Providence, is to suppose the Divine Wisdom lyable to Miscarriages and Mistakes, These Mutterings are Foolish also, even to the Degree of Madness it self; for there’s no Thought or Possibility of Relief in the Case. Such as we Are God has made Us: our Post and our Station is appointed us, and the Decree is not to be Revers'd.