Book I: The Raven and the Fox
Perch'd on a lofty oak,Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese;Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze,Thus to the holder spoke:--'Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven?Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one!So black and glossy, on my word, sir,With voice to match, you were a bird, sir,Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days.'Sir Raven, overset with praise,Must show how musical his croak.Down fell the luncheon from the oak;Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:--'The flatterer, my good sir,Aye liveth on his listener;Which lesson, if you please,Is doubtless worth the cheese.'A bit too late, Sir Raven sworeThe rogue should never cheat him more.
Words in this poem
- lunch n.
- A luncheon; specifically, a light repast between breakfast and dinner. [Of uncertain etymol. Cf. Prov. Eng. nunc a lump.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- overset v. t.
- To turn or tip (anything) over from an upright, or a proper, position so that it lies upon its side or bottom upwards; to upset; as, to overset a chair, a coach, a ship, or a building.
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- luncheon n.
- A lump of food. [Prov. E. luncheon, lunchion, lunshin, a large lump of food, fr. lunch. See Lunch.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Raven and the Fox 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 Raven and the Fox, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-2.html, id L28212.
Form and metre
Book I: The Raven and the Fox is 19 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See 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 ABBACCDDEEAAAD-BBFF oakA · cheeseB · breezeB · spokeA · ravenC · oneC · sirD · sirD · daysE · praiseE · croakA · oakA · spokeA · sirD · listener · pleaseB · cheeseB · sworeF · moreF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Perch'd on a lofty oak, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze, | 8 | ········ |
| Thus to the holder spoke:-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one! | 8 | ········ |
| So black and glossy, on my word, sir, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| With voice to match, you were a bird, sir, | 9 | ········· |
| Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days.' | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sir Raven, overset with praise, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Must show how musical his croak. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Down fell the luncheon from the oak; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'The flatterer, my good sir, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Aye liveth on his listener; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Which lesson, if you please, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Is doubtless worth the cheese.' | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A bit too late, Sir Raven swore | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The rogue should never cheat him more. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.