The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quartus/Fable 1

3795582The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, Liber Quartus — Fable 1: The Foxe and the RaysynsWilliam Caxton

¶ The fyrst fable maketh mencyon of the foxe and of the raysyns

HE is not wyse / that desyreth to haue a thynge whiche he may not haue / As reciteth this fable  Of a foxe / whiche loked and beheld the raysyns that grewe vpon an hyghe vyne / the whiche raysyns he moche desyred for to ete them   ¶ And whanne he sawe that none he myght gete / he torned his sorowe in to Ioye / and sayd these raysyns ben sowre / and yf I had some I wold not ete them / And therfore this fable sheweth that he is wyse / whiche fayneth not to desyre that thynge the whiche he may not haue /