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Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)

1.14. Of the Egle whiche bare a nutte in his becke and of the rauen
(Perry 490)

He that is sure and wel garnysshed yet by fals counceyll may be bytrayed / wherof Esope telleth suche a fable /
An Egle was somtyme vpon a tree / whiche held with his bylle a nutte / whiche he coude not breke / the rauen came to hym / and sayd / Thow shalt neuer breke it / tylle thow fleest as hyghe as thow mayst / And thenne late it falle vpon the stones / And the Egle beganne to flyhe and lete fall his proye / and thus he lost his notte /
And thus many one ben deceyued thorugh fals counceylle / and by the fals tongue of other


Caxton published his edition of Aesop's fables in 1484. There are modern reprints by Joseph Jacobs (D. Nutt: London, 1889) and more recently by Robert Lenaghan (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1967). Lenaghan's edition is available at amazon.com.