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Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)

Avyan 20. Of the crowe whiche was a thurst
(Perry 390)

Better is crafte and subtylyte than force / As reherceth to vs this fable / Of a crowe whiche vpon a day came for to drynke oute of a boket / and by cause that she myght not reche to the water / she dyd fyll the boket ful of small stones / in soo moche that the water came vpward / wherof she dranke thenne at her wylle / and playsyre /
And therfore hit appiereth wel / that wytte or sapyence is a moche fayr verture For by sapyence or wytte / thow shalt mowe resyste to all faultes /


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.