Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
3.16. Of the handes / of the feet / & of the mans bely
(Perry 130)
How shalle one do ony good to another / the which can doo no good to
his owne self / As thow mayst see by this fable / Of the feet and of the
handes / whiche somtyme had grete stryf with the bely / sayenge / Al that
we can or may wynne with grete labour thou etest it all / and yet thow
doost no good / wherfore thou shalt no more haue nothynge of vs / and
we shalle lete the deye for honger / And thenne when the bely was empty
and sore hungry / she beganne to crye & sayd Allas I deye for honger /
gyue me somwhat to ete / And the feet and the handes sayd / thou getest
no thynge of vs / And by cause that the bely might haue no mete / the
conduyts thorugh the whiche the metes passeth became smal and narowe /
And within fewe dayes after the feete and handes for the febleness whiche
they felte wold thenne haue gyuen mete to the bely /& but it was to late
/ for the conduits were ioyned to gyder / And therfore the lymmes myght
doo no good to other / that is to wete the bely / And he that gouerneth
not wel his bely with grete payne he may hold the other lymmes in theyr
strengthe and vertue /
wherfore a seruaunt ought to serue wel his mayster / to thende that
his mayster hold and kepe hym honestly / and to receyue and haue good
reward of hym / when his mayster shalle see his feythfulnesse
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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