<< Home Page | Caxton Index

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.