Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
1.11. Of the lyon and of the asse
(Perry 484)
Of them whiche mocken other esope reherceth such a fable / Ther was an
asse whiche met with a lyon to whom he said my broder god saue the & the
lyon shaked his hede and with grete payne he myght hold his courage /
to haue forthwith deuoured hym / But the lyon sayd to hym self / It behoueth
not that teethe soo noble and so fayre as myn be touchen not / ne byten
suche a fowle beest /
For he that is wyse must not hurte the foole ne take hede to his wordes
/ but lete hym go for suche as he is
 Caxton
published his edition of Aesop's fables in 1484. There are modern reprints by
Joseph Jacobs (D. Nutt: London, 1889) and more recently by Robert Lenaghan (Harvard
University Press: Cambridge, 1967). Lenaghan's edition is available at amazon.com.
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