Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.3. Of the theef and of the dogge
(Perry 403)
Whanne that one gyueth ony thyng / men ought wel to take hede / to what
ende hit is gyuen / wherof Esope reherceth suche a fable / Of a theef
which came on a nyght within a mans hows for to haue robbed hym / And
the good mans dogge beganne to bark at hym / And thenne the theef casted
at hym a pyece of brede / And the dogge sayd to hym / thow casteth not
this brede for no good wylle / but only to the ende / that I hold my pees
/ to thende that thow mayst robbe my mayster / And therfore hit were not
good for me / that for a morsell of brede / I shold lese my lyf / wherfore
goo fro hens / or els I shalle anone awake my mayster and alle his meyne
/ The dogge thenne beganne to bark / and the theef beganne to flee /
And thus by couetyse many haue oftyme receyued grete yeftes / the whiche
haue ben cause of theyr dethe and to lese theyre heedes / wherfore hit
is good to consydere and loke wel / to what entencion the yeft is gyuen
/ to thende that none may be bytrayd thurgh yeftes / Ne that by ony yeftes
none maketh some trayson ageynst his mayster or lord
 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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