A country Rat of little brains,     Grown weary of inglorious rest,
  Left home with all its straws and grains,
    Resolved to know beyond his nest.
  When peeping through the nearest fence,
  "How big the world is, how immense!"
  He cried; "there rise the Alps, and that
  Is doubtless famous Ararat."
  His mountains were the works of moles,
  Or dirt thrown up in digging holes!
  Some days of travel brought him where
  The tide had left the Oysters bare.
  Since here our traveller saw the sea,
  He thought these shells the ships must be.
  "My father was, in truth," said he,
    "A coward, and an ignoramus;
  He dared not travel: as for me,
    I've seen the ships and ocean famous;
  Have cross'd the deserts without drinking,
  And many dangerous............