Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
4.20. Of the tree and of the reed /
(Perry 70)
None ought to be prowd ageynst his lord / but oughte to humble hym self
toward hym / As this fable reherceth to vs of a grete tre / whiche wold
neuer bowe hym for none wynd / And a reed whiche was at his foote bowed
hym self as moche as the wynd wold / And the tree sayd to hym / why dost
thow not abyde stylle as I doo / And the reed ansuerd / I haue not the
myght whiche thow hast / And the tree sayd to the reed prowdly / than
haue I more strengthe / than thow / And anone after came a grete wynde
/ whiche threw doune to the ground the sayd grete tree / and the reed
abode in his owne beynge /
For the prowde shall be allwey humbled And the meke and humble shalle
be enhaunced / For the roote of alle vertue is obedyence and humylyte
 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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