The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Primus/Fable 10
¶ The tenthe fable is of the man and of the serpent
E that leneth and helpeth the euylle
men / synneth / sor after that men
have doo to them some good /
they hurte them afterward / For
as men sayen comynly / yf ye
kepe a man fro the galhows / he shalle neuer
loue yow after / wherof Esope reherceth suche
a fable / ¶ A man was som tyme whiche fond a
serpent within a Vyne / and for the grete wynter
and frost the serpent was hard / and almost dede
for cold wherof the good man had pyte and toke
and bare her in to his hows and leyd her before
the fyre / and so moche he dyd that that she
came ageyne in to her strengthe and vygour /
She beganne thynne to crye and whystled about
the hows and troubled the good wyf / and the
children / wherfor this good man wold haue her
oute of his hows / And whanne he thoughte to
have take her she sprange after his neck for to
have strangled hym / And thus hit is of the
euyll folk whiche for the good done to them /
they yeld ageyne euyll and deceyuen them whiche
have had pyte on them / And also theyre felauship
is not good ne vtyle /