The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quartus/Fable 7

3810129The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Quartus — Fable 7: The Fawkoner and the ByrdesWilliam Caxton

¶ The seuenth fable is of the fawkoner and of the byrdes

THe wyse ought to kepe and obserue the good couceyll / And in no wyse they ought not to doo the contrarye / As reherceth to vs this fable / Of the byrdes whiche were Ioyeful and gladde / as the prymtemps came / by cause that theyr nestes were thenne al couerd with leues / And Incontynent they beheld and sawe a fawkoner whiche dressyd and leyd laces and nettes for to take them /  ¶ And thenne they sayd al to gyder / Yonder man hath pyte of vs / For whanne he beholdeth vs he wepeth /  ¶ And thenne the pertryche / whiche had experymented and assayed all the deceytes of the sayd Fawkoner / sayd to them / kepe yow alle wel fro that sayd man and flee hyghe in to the ayer / For he seketh nothynge / but the manere for to take yow / or to the markette he shalle bere yow for to be sold / And they that byleuyd his couceylle were saued / And they that byleuyed it not were taken and lost /  ¶ And therfore they whiche byleue good councylle are delyuerd oute of theyr peryles / And they whiche byleue it not ben euer in grete daunger