Aesop's Fables: Caxton
(1484)
5.11. Of the enuyous dogge
(Perry 702)
None ought not to haue enuye of the good of other / As it appiereth
by this fable / Of a dogge whiche was enuyous / and that somtyme
was within a stable of oxen / the whiche was ful of heye / This dogge
kept the oxen that they shold not entre in to theyr stable / and
that they shold not ete of the sayd hey / And thenne the oxen sayd
to hym / Thow arte wel peruers and euylle to haue enuye of the good
/ the whiche is to vs nedefull and prouffitable / And thow hast of
hit nought to doo / for thy kynde is not to ete no hey / And thus
he dyd of a grete bone / the whiche he held at his mouthe / and wold
not leue hit by cause and for enuye of another dogge / whiche was
therby /
And therfore kepe the wel fro the company or felauship of
an enuyous body / For to haue to doo with hym hit is moche peryllous
and dyffycyle / As to vs is wel shewen by Lucyfer
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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