Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
1.19. Of the mylan whiche was seke and of his moder
(Perry 324)
He that euer doth euylle ought not to suppose ne haue no trust that his
prayer at his nede shalle be herd / Of the whiche thynge Esope sheweth
to vs suche a fable / Of a mylan whiche was seke / so moche that he had
no truste to recouere his helthe / And as he sawe hym so vexed with febleness
/ he prayed his moder that she shold praye vnto the goddes for hym / And
his moder answerd to hym / My sone thow hast so gretely offendyd and blasphemyd
the goddes that now they wol auenge them on the / For thow prayest not
them by pyte ne by loue / but for dolour and drede /
For he whiche ledeth euylle lyf / and that in his euylle delynge is
obstynate / ought not to haue hope to be delyuerd of his euyll / For whan
one is fall in to extremyte of his sekenes / thenne is the tyme come that
he must be payed of his werkes and dedes / For he that offendeth other
in his prosperyte / whan he falleth in to aduersyte / he fyndeth no frendes
/
 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.
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