Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
Avyan 2. Of the tortose and of the other byrdes
(Perry 230)
He that enhaunceth hym self more than he ought to do To hym oughte not
to come noo good / As hit appiereth by this present fable / Of a tortose
/ whiche said to the byrdes / yf ye lyft me vp wel hyghe fro the ground
to the ayer I shalle shewe to yow grete plente of precious stones / And
the Egle toke her and bare her so hyghe / that she myghte not see the
erthe / And the Egle sayd to her shewe me now these precious stones that
thow promysest to shewe to me / And by cause that the tortose myght not
see in the erthe / and that the Egle knewe wel that he was deceyued /
thrested his clowes in to the tortoses bely / and kylled hit /
For he that wylle haue and gete worship and glorye may not haue hit
without grete laboure / Therfore hit is better and more sure / to kepe
hym lowely than to enhaunce hym self on hyghe / and after to deye shamefully
and myserably / For men sayn comynly / who so mounteth hyher / than he
shold / he falleth lower than he wold
 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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