Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
3.10. Of the yonge man / and of the comyn woman
(Perry 555)
Of the comyn and folysshe wymmen Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable
/ Of a woman whiche had a name Tahys / the whiche was cause by her feyned
loue of the dethe and losse of many yonge men / to one of the whiche she
had be bete ofte before that tyme / she sayd to hym in this wyse / My
ryght dere loue and good frende / I suppose that of many one I am wel
byloued and desyred / Neuertheles I shall sette my loue on thy self alone
/ wherfore I pray the that thow mayst be myn / and I shalle be thyn /
for alle thy goodes I retche not / but only I desyre thy swete body /
And he that knewe the feyntyse and falsheed of the woman / ansuerd to
her / ryght benyngly and swetely / thy wyll and the myn ben both but one
alone / For thow arte she whiche I moost desyre / and the whiche I shall
loue alle the terme of my lyf / yf thow deceyue me nomore / For by cause
that thow hast deceyued me in tyme passed / I am euer aferd of the / but
notwhithstondynge this / thow arte now moche playsaunt and fayr to the
syghte of me / And thus the one begyled that other /
For the loue of a comyn woman is not to be trusted / For thow oughtest
to knowe and thynk within thy self / that the comyn and folyssh woman
loue the not / but she loueth thy syluer
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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