_Rats_ that Eat _Copper_.
A Merchant that had gotten a Friend of his to lay up a considerable
Quantity of _Copper_ for him, comes afterward to have Occasion for’t,
and so desires he may have his _Copper_ again. Alas, says his Friend, my
House is so Pester’d with Rats, that they have gotten to your _Copper_,
and Eat it all up. The First _Rats_ of that Diet, says the Merchant,
that ever I heard of. O Good Sir, says the Man, ’tis a common thing with
’em here in this Island. So away goes the Merchant, and the next Morning
comes his Friend to him, Wringing his Hands, and Exclaiming, Oh what
should he do! The _Kidnappers_ had stoll’n away his only Child. Bless me,
says the Master, this minds me of a Raven I saw Yesterday Steeple-high,
just over your House with a Child in’s Foot: My Life for’t, that was
your Child. No, no, says t’other, a Raven Fly away with a Child! that’s
Impossible. Pardon me, says the Merchant, ’tis a common thing where
_Rats_ Eat _Copper_, for _Ravens_ to Fly away with _Children_. The Man
found himself Beaten at his own Play, and so Compounded with the Merchant
to give him Satisfaction for his _Copper_, upon condition that he might
have his _Child_ again; for he had smelt it out by this time that the
_Merchant_ himself was the _Kidnapper_.
The MORAL.
_’Tis a Dexterous Turn of Address, to Baffle One Banter with Another; And
the Nearer the Resemblance of the Humour, the Hit is so much the Better._