The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Secundus/Fable 6
¶ The vi fable is of the wulf and of the lambe
He byrth causeth no so moche to gete
some frendes / as cloth the goodnes
/ wherof Esope reherceth to vs
suche a fable / Of a wulf whiche
sawe a lambe among a grete herd
of gootes / the whiche lambe sowked a gote /
And the wulf wente and sayd to hym / this gote
is not thy moder / goo and seke her at the Montayn
/ for she shalle nourysshe the more swetely
and more tendyrly than this gote shalle/ And
the lambe ansuerd to hym / This goote nouryssheth
me instede of my moder / For she leneth to me
her pappes soner than to ony of her own children
/ And yet more / hit is better for me to be
here with these gootes than to departe fro hens /
and to falle in to thy throte for to be deuoured /
And therfore he is a foole whiche leueth fredome
or surete / For to put hym self in grete perylle
and daunger of dethe / For better is to lyue
surely and rudely in sewrte than swetely in peryll
& daunger