Book I: The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion
The heifer, the goat, and their sister the sheep,Compacted their earnings in common to keep,'Tis said, in time past, with a lion, who sway'dFull lordship o'er neighbours, of whatever grade.The goat, as it happen'd, a stag having snared,Sent off to the rest, that the beast might be shared.All gather'd; the lion first counts on his claws,And says, 'We'll proceed to divide with our pawsThe stag into pieces, as fix'd by our laws.'This done, he announces part first as his own;''Tis mine,' he says, 'truly, as lion alone.'To such a decision there's nought to be said,As he who has made it is doubtless the head.'Well, also, the second to me should belong;'Tis mine, be it known, by the right of the strong.Again, as the bravest, the third must be mine.To touch but the fourth whoso maketh a sign,I'll choke him to deathIn the space of a breath!'
Words in this poem
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- whoso pron.
- Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion 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 Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-6.html, id L28216.
Form and metre
Book I: The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion is 19 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 63% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCCDDDEEFFGGHHII sheepA · keepA · sway'dB · gradeB · snaredC · sharedC · clawsD · pawsD · lawsD · ownE · aloneE · saidF · headF · belongG · strongG · mineH · signH · deathI · breathI
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The heifer, the goat, and their sister the sheep, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Compacted their earnings in common to keep, | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| 'Tis said, in time past, with a lion, who sway'd | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Full lordship o'er neighbours, of whatever grade. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| The goat, as it happen'd, a stag having snared, | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Sent off to the rest, that the beast might be shared. | 11 | ··········· |
| All gather'd; the lion first counts on his claws, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| And says, 'We'll proceed to divide with our paws | 11 | ···˘/·˘/·/· |
| The stag into pieces, as fix'd by our laws.' | 11 | ····/˘···/· |
| This done, he announces part first as his own; | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| ''Tis mine,' he says, 'truly, as lion alone.' | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| To such a decision there's nought to be said, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| As he who has made it is doubtless the head. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| 'Well, also, the second to me should belong; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| 'Tis mine, be it known, by the right of the strong. | 11 | ··········· |
| Again, as the bravest, the third must be mine. | 11 | ˘/··/˘····· |
| To touch but the fourth whoso maketh a sign, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| I'll choke him to death | 5 | ····· |
| In the space of a breath!' | 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.