Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.19. Of the man and of the wesel
(Perry 293)
Men ought wel to loke and behold the courage & thought of hym / whiche
dothe good / and the ende / wherfor he dothe hit / wherof Esope reherceth
suche a fable Of a man whiche tooke a wesell / the which chaced after
the rattes wythynne his hows / And after whanne he had taken her / he
would haue kylled her / And whanne the poure Weselle sawe the wrathe and
furour of her mayster / she cryed to hym / mercy / sayenge thus / My lord
I requyre and praye the / that thow wylt pardonne to me / And that thow
wylt reward me of the grete seruyse whiche I haue done to the / For euer
I haue chaced the rats oute of thy hows / And the man sayd to her / thow
dydest not that for the loue of me / but only thow hast done it for to
fylle thy bely For yf thow haddest done it for the loue of me / I shold
haue pardonned to the / And by cause that thow dydest not for to serue
me / but for to lette and adommage me / For that the rattes myght not
ete / thow barest it awey / And soo by cause / that thow arte wexed fatte
of myne owne brede / thow must rendre and yeue to me alle that fatnesse
/ whiche thou hast conquered and goten here / For he that robbeth shall
be robbed / Iuxta illud / pillatores pillabuntur / For hit suffyseth not
to doo wel / but men must haue good wylle and good entencion for to do
hit / For an almesse that is done for vayne glorye / is not merited /
but dismeryted / wherfore I shal not pardonne the / but incontynent and
withoute taryenge thow shalt deye / For by cause that thow hast deseruyed
no mercy / thow shalt now be putte to dethe
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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