Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
Avyan 26. Of the wynd and of therthen pot
(Perry 368)
He that ouer moche enhaunceth hym self / sooner than he wold / he falleth
doune / as hit appereth by this fable / Of an erthen pot maker whiche
made a grete pot of erthe / the whiche he dyd sette in the sonne / by
cause that more surely hit shold haue ben dryed / ageynste the whiche
came and blewe a grete wynd / And whanne the wynd sawe the potte he demaunded
of hym / who arte thow / And the pot ansuerd to hym / I am a potte the
best made that men can fynde / & none may lette ne empeche me / And how
sayd the wynde / thow art yet al softe / and hast neyther vertue ne none
force / and by cause that I knowe wel thy ouer pryde / I shall breke the
/ and putte the in to pyeces / to thende / that thow of thy grete pryde
mayst haue knowledge /
And therfore the feble ought to meke and humble hym self and obeye
to his lord / and not to enhaunce hym more than he ought / to thende /
he falleth not from hyhe to lowe
 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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