Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
1.6. Of the lyon and of the cowe / of the goote and of the sheep
(Perry 339)
Men sayen comynly that it is not good to ete plommes with his lord /
ne to the poure it is not good to haue partage and dyuysyon with hym whiche
is ryche & myghty / wherof Esope reherceth suche a fable / The cowe /
the gote & the sheep went ones a huntyng & chase / with the lyon & toke
a herte / And whanne they came to haue theyr parte / the lyon sayd to
them / My lordes I late you wete / that the fyrst part is myn by cause
I am your lord / the second by cause / I am stronger than ye be / the
thyrd / by cause I ranne more swyfter than ye dyd / And who so euer toucheth
the fourthe parte / he shalle be myn mortal enemy / And thus he took for
hym self alone the herte /
And therfore this fable techeth to al folk / that the poure ought not
to hold felauship with the myghty / For the myghty man is neuer feythfull
to the poure
 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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