The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Other Aesop's/Fable 1
¶ The fyrst fable is of the Egle and of the rauen
One ought to take on hym self to
doo a thynge / whiche is peryllous
withoute he fele hym self strong
ynouȝ to doo hit / As reherceth
this Fable / Of an Egle / whiche
fleynge took a lambe / wherof the Rauen hadde
grete enuye wherfor vpon another tyme as / the
sayd rauen sawe a grete herd of sheep / by his
grete enuy & pryde & by his grete oultrage descended
on them / And by suche fachon and
manere smote a wether that his clowes abode to
the flyes of hit / In soo moche that he coude
not flee awey / The sheep herd thenne came and
brake and toke his wynges from hym / And after
bare hym to his children to playe them with /
And demaunded of hym / what byrd he was /
And the Rauen ansuerd to hym / I supposed to
haue ben an Egle / And by my ouerwenynge I
wende to haue take a lambe / as the egle dyd /
but now I knowe wel that I am a Rauen / wherfore
the feble ought not in no wyse to compare hym self to the stronge / For somtyme when he
supposeth to doo more than he may / he falleth
in to grate deshonour / as hit appiereth by this
present Fable / Of a Rauen / whiche supposen
to haue ben as stronge as the egle