Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
3.6. Of the foxe and of the wulf
(Perry 568)
Fortune helpeth bothe the good and euyll folke / and to alle them / whiche
she helpeth not she sendeth euylle to them / And they that setten alle
theyr malyce ageynste fortune ben subuertysed and ouerthrawen by her /
wherof Esope reherceth suche a fable / Of a wulf whiche had assembled
to gyder a grete proye / or moche mete for to haue lyued more delyciously
/ wherof the foxe had grete enuye / and for to haue robbed somme of this
good / he came vnto the cauerne or hole where as this proye or mete was
in / and sayd to the wulf / My godsep the wulf / by cause hit is longe
syth I sawe the / I am in grete heuynesse and sorowe / and also by cause
we haue not ben in long tyme gone chaced and gone to gyder / And whan
the wulf knewe the malyce of the foxe / he sayd to hym thow arte not come
hyder for to see me / ne how I fare / but thou arte come for to robbe
and rauysshe my good / For the whiche wordes the foxe was moche angry
/ and wente toward a sheepherd / to whome he sayd / yf thow wylt be auenged
of the wulf whiche is enemy of thy heerd or parke / on this day I shalle
put hym vnder thy handes / And the sheepherd ansuerde to the foxe in this
manere / yf thow doo as thow sayst / I shall paye the wel / And thenne
the foxe shewed to hym the hool / wherin the wulf was / And the sheepherd
Incontynent wente toward the hole / and with a spere he kyld the wulf
/ And by this manere the foxe was wel fylled and refresshyd of the good
of other / but as he retorned homeward / he was taken & deuoured by somme
dogges / wherfore he seyd to hym self / by cause that ryght euylle I haue
done / euylle cometh now to me /
For synne retorneth euer vpon his mayster / And he that lyueth but
of rauyn and robberye shal at the last be knowen and robbed /
 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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