Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
4.19. Of the sheep and of the Crowe
(Perry 553)
Men ought not to iniurye ne disprayes the poure Innocentes ne the symple
folke As reherceth this fable / Of a Crowe / whiche sette her self vpon
the back of a sheep / And whan the sheep had born her a grete whyle she
sayd to her / thow shalt kepe thy self wel to sette the vpon a dogge /
And thenne the crowe sayd to the sheep / Thynke thow poure Innocent that
I wote wel with whom I playe / For I am old and malycious / and my kynde
is to lette all Innocents / and to be frende vnto the euyls /
And therfore this fable wylle telle and saye / how ther be folke of
suche kynde / that they wyl doo no good werk / but only to lette euer
the Innocents and symple folke
 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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