The Man And His Coat Poem by Ignacy Krasicki

(An argosy of fables 1921/Polish fables)

A man beat his Coat⁠
 Now and then with a cane;
And, astonished, one morning,
⁠He heard it complain:

"Ungratefully treated!
⁠My fortune is hard!
To beat me, dear Master!
⁠Is this my reward? "

"I beat you? " he answered,
⁠"The charge is unjust:
I but gently endeavour
⁠To take out the dust.

The means I make use of
⁠To you may seem hard;
But it does not diminish,
⁠Good Coat, my regard.

My son, whom I cherish
⁠More fondly than you,
I cane rather often,
⁠For like reason too.

The faults that, in children,
⁠We needs must repress.
Are like dust, that beclouds
⁠The most exquisite dress;

A little exertion
⁠Will soon work a cure.
And will make both more lovely.
⁠More worthy, more pure."

Though the fable is good.
⁠Yet I never will blush
To own, I prefer dusting
⁠My coat with a brush.

To most of my readers
⁠I need not explain.
Advice is the brush
⁠I prefer to a Cane.

(Translated from the Polish of Ignace Krasicki.)