The Wolf And The Shepherd

The Wolf a Shepherd blandly once addressed:
"Friend--let me say I really do not know
Why you will view me always as a pest;
You think me a bad fellow. Faith, I am not so.
What a warm coat my skin in winter yields!
It shelters many a man from cold and wetting;
Moreover, too, from sting of flea it shields,
And other insects vile your couch besetting.
Against the withering blight of evil eye
My claws will screen you--counter charm secure.
My fat for hurts a sovereign remedy--
The uses of my teeth you know, I'm sure."

The Shepherd answered: "Animal perverse!
Upon thy head be Heaven's eternal curse!
On endless mischief bent--no thanks to you
If, now and then, some good you chance to do."

* * * * *

To many books, in these our days, my verse
Allots the Wolf's foul character and curse.