Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.13. Of the foxe and of the storke
(Perry 426)
Thow oughtest not to doo to other that whiche thow woldest not that men
shold doo to the / wherof Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / Of a foxe
which conueyed a storke to souper / And the foxe put the mete vpon a trauncher
/ the whiche mete the storke myght not ete / wherof she tooke & had grete
displaysaunce / & wente & departed oute of the foxes hows al hongry and
wente ageyne to her lodgys / And by cause that the foxe had thus begyled
her / she bythoughte in her self / how she myght begyle the Foxe / For
as men saye / it is meryte to begyle the begylers / wherfore the storke
prayd the foxe to come and soupe with her / and put his mete within a
glas / And whanne the foxe wold haue eten / he myght not come ther by
/ but only he lycked the glas / bycause he cowde not reche to the mete
with his mouthe / And thenne he knewe wel that he was deceyued / And thenne
the storke sayd to hym / Take of suche goodes as thow gauest to me / And
the poure foxe ryght shameful departed fro thens / And with the staf which
he had made he was bete /
And therfore he that begyleth other / is oftyme begyled hym self /
 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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