The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Secundus/Fable 19
¶ The xix fable is of the man and of the wesel
En ought wel to loke and behold the
courage & thought of hym / whiche
dothe good / and the ende / wherfor
he dothe hit / wherof Esope
reherceth suche a fable / Of a man
whiche tooke a wesell / the whiche chaced after
the rattes wythynne his hows / ¶ And after
whanne he had taken her / he wold haue kylled
her / ¶ And whanne the poure Weselle sawe
the wrathe and furour of her mayster / she cryed
to hym / mercy / sayenge thus / My lord I requyre
and praye the / that thow wylt pardonne
to me / and that thow wylt reward me of the
grete seruyse whiche I haue done to the / For
euer I haue chaced the rats oute of thy hows /
¶ And the man sayd to her / thow dydest not
that for the loue of me / but only thow hast done
it for to fylle thy bely For yf thow haddest done
it for the loue of me / I shold haue pardonned to
the / ¶ And by cause that thow dydest not for
to serue me / but for to lette and adōmage me /
For that the rattes myght not ete / thou barest it awey / And soo bycause / that thow arte wexed
fatte of myne owne brede / thow must rendre
and geue to me alle the fatnesse / whiche thou
hast conquered and goten here / For he that
robbeth shall be robbed / Juxta illud / pellatores
pillabuntur / For hit suffyseth not to doo wel /
but men must haue good wylle and good entencion
for to do hit / For an almesse that is done
for vayne glorye / is not merited / but dismeryted /
wherfore I shal not pardonne the / but incontynent
and withoute taryenge thow shalt deye /
For by cause that thow hast deseruyd no mercy /
thow shalt now be putte to dethe