The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Annotated/Vol. II/Liber Primus/Fable 5

The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Primus (1889)
by Aesop, translated by William Caxton, edited by Joseph Jacobs
Fable 5: The Dogge and the piece of flesh
Aesop3909381The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Primus — Fable 5: The Dogge and the piece of flesh1889William Caxton


¶ The fyfthe fable is of the dogge and of the pyece of flessh

He that desyreth to haue other mens goodes oft he loseth his owne good / whereof Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / In tyme passed was a dogge that wente ouer a brydge / and held in his mouthe a pyece of flesshe / and as he passed ouer a brydge / he perceywed and sawe the shadowe of hym / and of his pyece of flesshe within the water / And he wenynge that it had be another pyece of flesshe / forthwith he thought to haue take it / And as he opened his mouthe / the pyece of flesshe fylle in to the water / and thus he lost it / Ryghte soo is of many / for whanne they thynke to robbe other / they lese theyr owne and propre good / wherfor for the loue of a vayn thynge men ought not to leue that whiche is certeyn.