Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
4.9. Of the hors / of the hunter and of the hert /
(Perry 269)
None ought to put hym self in subiection for to auenge hym on other /
For better is not to submytte hym self / than after to be submytted /
as reherced to vs this fable / Of an hors whiche had enuye ouer an herte
/ by cause the herte was fayrer than he / and the hors by enuye went vnto
an hunter / to whome he sayd in this manere / yf thow wylt byleue me /
we shalle this day take a good proye / Lepe vpon my bak / and take thy
swerd / and we shalle chace the herte / and thow shalt hytte hym with
thy swerd / and kylle hym / and shalt take hym / and thenne his flesshe
thow mayst ete / and his skynne thow mayst selle / And thenne the hunter
moued by auaryce / demaunded of the hors / thynkest thow by thy feythe
that we maye take the herte / of whom thow spekest to me of / And the
hors answerd thus / Suffyse the / For ther to I shalle put al my dylygence
and alle my strengthe / lepe vpon me / and doo after my counceylle / And
thenne the Hunter lepte forthwith vpon the hors backe / And the hors beganne
to renne after the herte / And whanne the herte sawe / hym come he fled
/ And by cause that the hert ranne faster / than the hors dyd / he scaped
fro them / and saued hym / And thenne when the hors sawe and felte hym
moche wery / and that he myght no more renne / he sayd to the hunter in
this maner / alyght fro my back / For I may bere the no more and haue
myst of my proye / Thenne said the hunter to the hors Syth thow arte entryd
in to my handes / yet shalt not thow escape thus fro me / thow hast the
brydel in thy mouthe wherby thow mayst be kepte stylle and arrested /
And thow wylt lepe / the sadell shalle saue me / And yf thow wylt caste
thy feet fro the / I haue good spores for to constrayne and make the goo
whether thow wylt or not where as I wylle haue the / And therfore kepe
the wel / that thow shewest not thy self rebelle vnto me /
Therfore it is not good to put and submytte hym self vnder the hand
of other wenynge therby to be auenged of hym / ageynste whome men haue
enuye / For who submytteth hym self vnder the myght of other / he byndeth
hym self to hym
 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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