Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
4.15. Of the man and of the lyon /
(Perry 284)
Men ought not to byleue the paynture / but the trouthe and the dede /
as men may see by this present Fable / Of a man & of a lyon which had
stryf to gyder & were in grete discencion for to wete and knowe / whiche
of them bothe was more stronger / The man sayd / that he was stronger
than the lyon / And for to haue his sayenge veryfyed / he shewed to the
lyon a pyctour / where as a man had vyctory ouer a lyon / As the pyctour
of Sampson the stronge / Thenne sayd the lyon to the man / yf the lyon
coude make pyctour good and trewe / hit had be herin paynted / how the
lyon had had vyctorye of the man / but now I shalle shewe to the very
and trewe wytnesse therof / The lyon thenne ledde the man to a grete pytte
/ And there they fought to gyder / But the lyon caste the man in to the
pytte / and submytted hym in to his subiection and sayd / Thow man / now
knowest thow alle the trouthe / whiche of vs bothe is stronger /
And therfore at the werke is knowen the best and most subtyle werker
 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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