Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.10. Of the good man and of the serpente
(Perry 573)
He that ought now to be assewred that applyketh and setteth hym to doo
to somme other eny euyll / wherof esope reherceth suche a fable / Of a
serpent / whiche wente & came in to the hows of a poure man / whiche serpent
lyued of that whiche felle fro the poure mans table / For the whiche thynge
happed a grete fortune to this poure man and bycame moche ryche / But
on a daye this man was angry ageynste the serpent / and took a grete staf
/ and smote at hym / and gretely hurted hym / wherfore the serpente wente
oute of his hous And therin he came neuer ageyne / And within a lytyll
whyle after this / this man retourned and felle ageyne in to grete pouerte
/ And thenne he knewe that by the fortune of the Serpent he was bycome
ryche / and repentyd hym moche of that he smote the serpent / And thenne
this poure man wente and humbled hym bifore the serpent sayenge to hym
/ I praye the that thow wylt pardonne me of thoffense that I haue done
to the / And thenne sayd the serpente to the poure man / Syth thow repentest
the of thy mysdede / I pardonne and forgyue it to the But as longe as
I shalle be on lyue / I shalle remembre me of thy malyce / For as thow
hurtest me ones / thow maist as wel hurte me another tyme / For the wounde
that thow madest to me / may not forgete the euylle whiche thow hast done
to me wherfore he that was ones euylle / shalle euer be presumed & holden
for euylle /
And therfore men ought to presume ouer hym / by whome they receyue
some dommage and not haue suspecte theyr good and trewe 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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