The Wise Dog
One day there passed by a company of cats a wise dog.
And as he came near and saw that they were very intent and heededhim not, he stopped.
Then there arose in the midst of the company a large, grave cat andlooked upon them and said, "Brethren, pray ye; and when ye haveprayed again and yet again, nothing doubting, verily then it shallrain mice."
And when the dog heard this he laughed in his heart and turned fromthem saying, "O blind and foolish cats, has it not been written andhave I not known and my fathers before me, that that which rainethfor prayer and faith and supplication is not mice but bones."
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wise Dog is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Madman: His Parables and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5616; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Kahlil Gibran, The Wise Dog, in The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5616, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gibran-madman/the-wise-dog.html, id L27287.
About this section
The Wise Dog is prose, printed in 4 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
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