A _Snake_ and a _File_.
There was a _Snake_ got into a Smith’s Shop, and fell to Licking of a
_File_. She Saw the _File_ Bloody, and still the Bloodier it was, the
more Eagerly she Lick’d it; upon a Foolish Fancy, that it was the _File_
that Bled, and that She her self had the Better on’t. In the Conclusion,
when she could Lick no Longer, she fell to Biting; but finding at last
she could do no more Good upon’t with her Teeth then with her Tongue, she
Fairly left it.
The MORAL.
_’Tis a Madness to stand Biting and Snapping at any thing to no manner of
purpose, more then the Gratifying of an Impotent Rage, in the fancy of
Hurting Another, when in truth, we only Wound our selves._