Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
1.20. Of the swalowe / and other byrdes
(Perry 39)
He that byleueth not good counceyll / may not fayll to be euylle counceylled
/ wherof Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / of a plowgh man / whiche
sowed lynseed / & the swalowe seyng that of the same lynseed men myght
make nettes and gynnes / wente and sayd to alle other byrdes / Come with
me ye al & lete vs plucke vp al this / For yf we leue hit growe / the
labourer shal mowe make therof gynnes and nettes for to take vs al / Alle
the byrdes dispraysed his counceyl / And thenne as the swalowe sawe this
/ he wente and herberowed her in the plough mans hows / And whanne the
flaxe was growen and pulled vp / the labourer made grynnes and nettes
to take byrdes / wherwith he took euery day many other byrdes / and brought
them in to his hows / to the whiche byrdes the swalowe thenne sayd / I
told yow wel / what that shold happe therof / wherfore men ought not to
disprayse good counceylle /
For he that is euyl aduysed and not wel counceyled shalle haue moche
payne
 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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