The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quintus/Fable 5
¶ The v fable is of the foxe and of the catte /
Here is many folke / whiche auauncen
them and saye that they ben
wyse and subtyle / whiche ben
grete fooles and knowynge no
thynge / As this fable reherceth
Of a foxe whiche som tyme mette with a
Catte / to whome he sayd / My godsep / god
geue yow good daye / And the catte answerd /
my lord god gyue yow good lyf / And thenne
the foxe demaunded of hym / My godsep what
canst thow doo / And the catte sayd to hym /
I can lepe a lytyl / And the fox sayd to hym /
Certaynly thow art not worthy to lyue / by cause
that thow canst nought doo / And by cause that
the cat was angry of foxes wordes / he asked and
demaunded of the foxe / And thow godsep what
canst thow doo / A thousand wyles haue I sayd
the foxe / For I haue a sak ful of scyences and
wyles / And I am so grete a clerke / that none
maye begyle ne deceyue me / And as they were
thus spekyng to gyder the cat perceyued a knyght
comynge toward them / whiche had many dogges
with hym / and sayd to the foxe / My godsep / certaynly I see a knyght[errata 1] comynge hyther ward /
whiche ledeth with hym many dogges / the
whiche as ye wel knowe ben our enemyes / The
foxe thenne ansuerd to the cat / My godsep /
thou spekest lyke a coward / and as he that is
aferd / lete them come and care not thow / And
Incontynently as the dogges perceyued and sawe
the foxe and the catte / they beganne to renne
vpon them / And whanne the foxe sawe them
come / he sayd to the kat / Flee we my broder /
flee we / To whome the kat ansuerd / Certaynly
godsep / therof is none nede / neuer the les the
foxe bylued not the cat / but fledde / and ranne
as fast as he myght for to saue hym / And the
catte lepte vpon a tree and saued hym self /
sayenge / Now shalle we see / who shalle playe
best for to preserue and saue hym self / And
whanne the catte was vpon a tree / he loked
aboute hym / and sawe how the dogges held the
foxe with theyr teethe / to whome he cryed and
seyd / O godsep and subtyle foxe / of thy thowsand
wyles that syth late thow coudest doo / lete
me now see / and shewe to me one of them /
the foxe ansuerd not/ but was killed of the
dogges and[errata 2] the catte was saued / ¶ And therfore
the wyse ought not to desprayse the symple /
For suche suppofeth to be moche wyse whiche
is a kynd and a very foole /