Book I: The Two Mules
Two mules were bearing on their backs,One, oats; the other, silver of the tax.The latter glorying in his load,March'd proudly forward on the road;And, from the jingle of his bell,'Twas plain he liked his burden well.But in a wild-wood glenA band of robber menRush'd forth upon the twain.Well with the silver pleased,They by the bridle seizedThe treasure-mule so vain.Poor mule! in struggling to repelHis ruthless foes, he fellStabb'd through; and with a bitter sighing,He cried, 'Is this the lot they promised me?My humble friend from danger free,While, weltering in my gore, I'm dying?''My friend,' his fellow-mule replied,'It is not well to have one's work too high.If thou hadst been a miller's drudge, as I,Thou wouldst not thus have died.'
Words in this poem
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- jingle v. i.
- To sound with a fine, sharp, rattling, clinking, or tinkling sound; as, sleigh bells jingle. [OE. gingelen, ginglen; prob. akin to E. chink; cf. also E. jangle.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Two Mules 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 Two Mules, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-4.html, id L28214.
Form and metre
Book I: The Two Mules is 22 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABBCCDDEFFECCGHHGIJJI. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDDEFFECCGHHGIJJI backsA · taxA · loadB · roadB · bellC · wellC · glenD · menD · twainE · pleasedF · seizedF · vainE · repelC · fellC · sighingG · meH · freeH · dyingG · repliedI · highJ · iJ · diedI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Two mules were bearing on their backs, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| One, oats; the other, silver of the tax. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The latter glorying in his load, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| March'd proudly forward on the road; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And, from the jingle of his bell, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Twas plain he liked his burden well. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But in a wild-wood glen | 6 | ······ |
| A band of robber men | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Rush'd forth upon the twain. | 6 | ······ |
| Well with the silver pleased, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They by the bridle seized | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The treasure-mule so vain. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Poor mule! in struggling to repel | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| His ruthless foes, he fell | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Stabb'd through; and with a bitter sighing, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| He cried, 'Is this the lot they promised me? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My humble friend from danger free, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| While, weltering in my gore, I'm dying?' | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| 'My friend,' his fellow-mule replied, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| 'It is not well to have one's work too high. | 10 | ·········· |
| If thou hadst been a miller's drudge, as I, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou wouldst not thus have died.' | 6 | ······ |
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.