Tales and novels of Jean de La Fontaine

WHEN Sister Jane, who had produced a child,

In prayer and penance all her hours beguiled

Her sister-nuns around the lattice pressed;

On which the abbess thus her flock addressed:

Live like our sister Jane, and bid adieu

To worldly cares:—have better things in view.

YES, they replied, we sage like her shall be,

When we with love have equally been free.