Aesop's Fables: Caxton
(1484)
6.8. Of the catte and of the rat
(Perry 79)
He whiche is wyse / and that ones hath ben begyled / ought not to
truste more hym that hath begyled hym As reherceth this Fable of
a catte whiche wente in to a hows / where as many rats were / the
whiche he dyd ete eche one after other / And whanne the rats perceyued
the grete fyersnes and crudelyte of the catte / held a counceylle
to gyder where as they determyned of one comyn wylle / that they
shold no more hold them ne come nor goo on the lowe floore wherfore
one of them moost auncyent profered and sayd to al the other suche
wordes / My brethern and my frendes / ye knowe wel / that we haue
a grete enemye / whiche is a grete persecutour ouer vs alle / to
whome we may not resyste / wherfor of nede we must hold our self
vpon the hyghe balkes / to thende that he may not take vs / Of the
whiche proposycion or wordes the other rats were wel content and
apayd / and byleuyd this counceylle / And whanne the kat knewe the
counceylle of the rats / he hynge hym self by his two feet behynd
at a pynne of yron whiche was styked at a balke / feynynge hym self
to be dede / And whanne one of the rats lokynge dounward sawe the
katte beganne to lawhe and sayd to the cat / O my Frend yf I supposed
that thow were dede / I shold goo doune / but wel I knowe the so
fals & peruers / that thou mayst wel haue hanged thy self / faynynge
to be dede / wherfore I shalle not go doune /
And therfore he that hath ben ones begyled by somme other
/ ought to kepe hym wel fro the same
 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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