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Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)5.7. Of the wulf and of the asse Men ought not to byleue lyghtly the counceylle of hym to whome men
purposen to lette / As ye maye see by this fable / Of a wulf whiche
somtyme mette with an Asse / to the whiche he sayd / My broder I
am hongry / wherfor I must nedes ete the / And thenne the Asse ansuerd
ryght benyngly / My lord / with me thow mayst doo what someuer thow
wylt / For yf thow etest me / thou shalt putte me oute of grete payne
/ but I praye the yf thow wylt ete me / that thou vouchesauf to ete
me oute of the way / For wel thow knowest that I brynge home the
raysyns fro the vyne / and fro the felds home the corne / Also wel
thow knowest / that I bere home wood fro the forest / And whanne
my maister wel do buyld somme edyffyce / I must go fetche the stones
from the montayne / And at the other parte I bere the corne vnto
the mylle / And after I bere home the floure / And for alle short
conclusions I was borne in a cursyd houre / For to alle payne and
to alle grete labours I am submytted & subget to hit / For the whiche
I wylle not that thow ete me here in the way for the grete vergoyne
and shame that therof myght come to me / But I pray the / and Instantly
requyre the / that thow wylt here my counceylle / whiche is / that
we two go in to the forest / and thow shalt bynde me by thy breste
/ as thy seruaunt / and I shalle bynd the by the neck as my mayster
And thow shalt lede me before the in to the wood where someuer thow
wylt / to the ende that more secretely thow ete me / to the whiche
couneylle the wulf acorded and sayd / I wylle wel that it be done
so / And whanne they were come in to the forest / the bounde eche
other in the maner as aboue is sayd And whanne they were wel bounden
/ the wulf sayd to the Asse / goo we where thou wylt / and goo before
for to shewe the waye / And the asse went byfore and ledde the wulf
in to the ryght waye of his maysters hows / And whanne the wulf beganne
to knowe the way / he sayd to the asse / we goo not the ryght way
/ to the whiche the asse ansuerd / My lord saye not that / For certaynly
/ this is the ryght wey / But for alle that / the wulf wold haue
gone backward / But neuertheles the Asse ledde hym vnto the hows
of his mayster / And as his mayster and alle his meyny sawe how the
Asse drewe the wulf after hym / and wold haue entred in to the hows
they came oute with staues and clubbes and smote on the wulf / And
as one of them wold haue caste and smyten a grete stroke vpon the
wulfes heede / he brake the cord / wherwith he was bounden / And
so scaped and ranne awey vpon the montayne sore hurted and beten
/ And thenne the asse for the grete ioye that he hadde of that he
was so scaped fro the wulf / beganne to synge / And the wulf whiche
was vpon the montayne / & herd the voys of thasse beganne to saye
in hym self / thow mayst wel crye and calle / For I shalle kepe the
wel another tyme / that thow shalt not bynd me as thow hast done
/ but late gone /
 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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