Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
3.7. Of the herte and of the hunter
(Perry 74)
Men preysen somtyme that / that shold be blamed & vitupered / And ofte
men blamen & vytuperen that / that shold be preysyd / as reciteth to vs
this fable of a herte / To whome it happyd on a tyme that he drank in
a fontayn or welle as he dranke / he sawe in the water his hede which
was horned / wherfore he preysed moche his hornes / And as he loked on
his legges / whiche were lene and smal / he dispreysed and vytupered them
/ And as he was drynkynge in the fontayne he herd the voys and barkynge
of dogges / wherfore he wold haue fledde awey in to the forest for to
saue hym self / but as he sawe the dogges so nyghe hym he wold haue entrid
within a busshe / but he myght not / for his hornes kepte hym withoute
/ And thenne seyng that he myght not escape began to saye within hym self
/ I haue blamed & vytupered my legges / whiche haue ben to me vtyle and
prouffitable / And haue preysed my hornes / whiche ben now cause of my
dethe /
And therfore men ought to disprayse that thynge / whiche is vnprouffitable
/ and preyse that whiche is vtyle and prouffitable / And they ought to
preyse and loue the chirche and the commaundements of the same / the whiche
ben moche vtyle & prouffytable / And dispreyse and flee al synne and vyce
/ whiche ben inutyle harmeful and dommageable
 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.
|
