6.17. Of the labourer and of his children (Caxton's Aesop)

Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)

6.17. Of the labourer and of his children
(Perry 42)

He that laboureth and werketh contynuelly maye not faylle to haue plente of goodes / as it appiereth by this present fable / Of a good man labourer / whiche all his lyf had laboured and wrought / and was ryche / And whan he shold deye / he sayd to his children / My children I muste now deye / And my tresour I haue lefte in my vyne / And after that the good man was dede / his children whiche supposed that his tresour had ben in the vyne / dyd nothyng al day but delued hit / & it bare more frute that dyd before
For who trauaylleth wel / he hath euer brede ynough for to ete / And he that werketh not dyeth for honger

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.