Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.8. Of the hares and of the frogges
(Perry 138)
Men say comynly that after that the tyme goth / so must folke go / For
yf thow makest distinction of the tyme thow shalt wel accord the scryptures
/ wherof Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / And sayth thus / that he
whiche beholdeth the euylle of other / must haue pacyence of the euylle
that maye come vpon hym / For somtyme as a hunter chaced thurgh the feldes
and woodes / the hares beganne to flee for fere And as they ranne / they
adressyd them in to a medowe fulle of frogges / And whanne the frogges
herd the hares renne they beganne also to flee and to renne fast / And
thenne a hare whiche perceyued them so ferdfull sayd to alle his felawes
/ Lete vs no more be dredeful ne doubtuous / for we be not alone that
haue had drede / For alle the frogges ben in doubte / and haue fere and
drede as we haue / Therfore we ought not to despayre / but haue trust
and hope to lyue / And yf somme aduersyte cometh vpon vs / we must bere
it pacyently / For ones the tyme shalle come that we shalle be oute of
payne and oute of all drede /
Therfore in the vnhappy and Infortunat tyme men ought not be despayred
/ but oughte euer to be in good hope to haue ones better in tyme of prosperyte
/ For after grete werre cometh good pees / And after the rayne cometh
the fair weder
 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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