The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Secundus/Fable 16

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The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Secundus (1889)
by Aesop, translated by William Caxton, edited by Joseph Jacobs

Fable 16: The Mule and the Flye

Fable 17

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Translated from French by William Caxton and first published in 1484. Perry Index 498. An annotated version of this text is available.

Aesop3784256The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Secundus — Fable 16: The Mule and the Flye1889William Caxton

¶ The xvj fable is of the mule and of the flye.

Omme maken gretemenaces / whiche haue no myghte / ¶ Wherof Esope reherceth suche a fable / ¶ Of a carter / whiche ladde a Charyot or carte / whiche a Mule drewe forthe / And by cause the Mule wente not fast ynough / the flye sayd to the Mule / Ha a payllart Mule / why goost thow not faster / I shalle soo egrely pryke the / that I shalle make the go lyghtely / ¶ And the Mule answered to the flye / God kepe and preserue the mone for the wolues / For I haue ne grete drede ne fere of the / But I drede and doubte sore my mayster / whiche is vpon me / whiche constrayneth me to fulfylle his wylle / ¶ And more I oughte to drede and doubte hym more / than the / whiche arte nought / and of no valewe ne myght / ¶ And thus men ought not to gette by ne doubte^{[errata 1]} them / whiche haue no myght ne that ben of no valewe

↑ Original: double was amended to doubte: detail

[1] Original: double was amended to doubte: detail

[errata 1]