The Eagle and the Owl, resolved to cease     Their war, embraced in pledge of peace.
  On faith of King, on faith of Owl, they swore
  That they would eat each other's chicks no more.
    "But know you mine?" said Wisdom's bird.
      "Not I, indeed," the Eagle cried.
      "The worse for that," the Owl replied:
    "I fear your oath's a useless word;
      I fear that you, as king, will not
      Consider duly who or what:
    Adieu, my young, if you should meet them!"
  "Describe them, then, and I'll not eat them,"
  The Eagle said. The Owl replied:
  "My little ones, I say with pride,
  For grace of form cannot be match'd—
  The prettiest birds that e'er were hatch'd;
  By this you cannot fail to know them;
  'Tis needless, therefore, that I show them."
  At length God gives the Owl some heirs,
  And while at early eve abroad he ............