The Snake and the Parrot

A snake said to a parrot, "Ah! I really envy you your life; how people fondle you! Why, everybody calls you a pet!"

"Yes," said the parrot, "if you will be as good and kind to people as I am, and try to amuse them as I do, they will treat you also as a pet."

"I will try," said the snake; and, creeping to a farmer's door, hissed aloud, as much as to say, "I do not wish to be wicked like other snakes. I wish to be kind and good to you, and amuse you like the parrot."

But the farmer killed the reptile at a stroke, saying, " 'Tis quite out of the way, this, for a snake to say!"

Goodness in the wicked is seldom credited.