Book I: The Dragon with Many Heads, and the Dragon with Many Tails
An envoy of the Porte Sublime,As history says, once on a time,Before th' imperial German courtDid rather boastfully report,The troops commanded by his master's firman,As being a stronger army than the German:To which replied a Dutch attendant,'Our prince has more than one dependantWho keeps an army at his own expense.'The Turk, a man of sense,Rejoin'd, 'I am awareWhat power your emperor's servants share.It brings to mind a tale both strange and true,A thing which once, myself, I chanced to view.I saw come darting through a hedge,Which fortified a rocky ledge,A hydra's hundred heads; and in a triceMy blood was turning into ice.But less the harm than terror,--The body came no nearer;Nor could, unless it had been sunder'd,To parts at least a hundred.While musing deeply on this sight,Another dragon came to light,Whose single head availsTo lead a hundred tails:And, seized with juster fright,I saw him pass the hedge,--Head, body, tails,--a wedgeOf living and resistless powers.--The other was your emperor's force; this ours.'
Words in this poem
- porte n.
- The Ottoman court; the government of the Turkish empire, officially called the Sublime Porte, from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace at which justice was administered. [F. porte a gate, L. porta. See Port a gate.]
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Dragon with Many Heads, and the Dragon with Many Tails is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of La Fontaine, Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, the Elizur Wright translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jean de La Fontaine, Book I: The Dragon with Many Heads, and the Dragon with Many Tails, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-12.html, id L28222.
Form and metre
Book I: The Dragon with Many Heads, and the Dragon with Many Tails is 31 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII----JJKKJLLMM sublimeA · timeA · courtB · reportB · firmanC · germanC · attendantD · dependantD · expenseE · senseE · awareF · shareF · trueG · viewG · hedgeH · ledgeH · triceI · iceI · terror · nearer · sunder'd · hundred · sightJ · lightJ · availsK · tailsK · frightJ · hedgeL · wedgeL · powersM · oursM
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An envoy of the Porte Sublime, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| As history says, once on a time, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Before th' imperial German court | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Did rather boastfully report, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The troops commanded by his master's firman, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| As being a stronger army than the German: | 11 | ·/·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| To which replied a Dutch attendant, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| 'Our prince has more than one dependant | 9 | /········ |
| Who keeps an army at his own expense.' | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The Turk, a man of sense, | 6 | ······ |
| Rejoin'd, 'I am aware | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| What power your emperor's servants share. | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| It brings to mind a tale both strange and true, | 10 | ·········· |
| A thing which once, myself, I chanced to view. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| I saw come darting through a hedge, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which fortified a rocky ledge, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A hydra's hundred heads; and in a trice | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| My blood was turning into ice. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But less the harm than terror,-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The body came no nearer; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Nor could, unless it had been sunder'd, | 9 | ········· |
| To parts at least a hundred. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| While musing deeply on this sight, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Another dragon came to light, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whose single head avails | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| To lead a hundred tails: | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And, seized with juster fright, | 7 | ··˘·/˘· |
| I saw him pass the hedge,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Head, body, tails,--a wedge | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of living and resistless powers.-- | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| The other was your emperor's force; this ours.' | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.