Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
3.18. Of the Marchaunt and of the asse
(Perry 164)
Many one ben trauaylled after theyr dethe / wherfor men ought not to
desyre the dethe / As reherceth Esope by this fable / Of a marchaunt whiche
ladde an Asse laden vnto the market / And for to be the sooner at the
market / he bete his asse / and sore prycked hym / wherfor the poure asse
wysshed & desyred his owne deth / wenyng to hym that after his dethe he
shold be in reste / And after that he had be wel bete & chaced he deyde
/ And his mayster made hym to be flayne / and of his skynne he dyd doo
make tambours whiche ben euer bete /
And thus for what payne that men may haue durynge his lyf / he ought
not to desyre and wysshe his dethe / For many one ben / whiche haue grete
payne in this world that shall haue a gretter in the other world / For
the man hath no reste for the dethe but for his merytes
 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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