While walking his spaniel Beau beside the River Ouse, poet William Cowper tried unsuccessfully to hook a water-lily with his cane. As they passed the same spot on their return, Beau leapt into the river, and swam back with a lily for his master. Cowper immediately wrote to his cousin about it, and later retold the events in verse.

Cowper’s poem retold the story of his losing battle with the water-lily, and described again how Beau of his own accord fetched a lily from the river as a present. Cowper vowed to publish the incident as a moral caution, especially for himself, firmly resolving to be as ready to please God as Beau had been to please him.

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