Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.20. Of the Oxe / and of the frogge / whiche wold haue compared her
to hym
(Perry 376)
The poure ought not to compare hym self to hym which is ryche and myghty
/ As sayth this fable of a frogge / whiche was in a medowe / where she
aspyed and sawe an oxe whiche pastured / She wold make her self as grete
and as myghty as the oxe / and by her grete pryde she beganne to swelle
ageynste the oxe / And demaunded of his children yf she was not as grete
as the oxe and as myghty / And theyr children ansuerd and sayd nay moder
/ For to loke and behold on the oxe / it semeth of yow to be nothynge
/ And thenne the frogge beganne more to swelle / And when the oxe saw
her pryde / the tradde and thrested / her with his fote / and brake her
bely /
Therfore hit is not good to the poure to compare hym self to the ryche
/ wherfore men sayn comynly / Swelle not thy self / to thende that thow
breste not
 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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