Book I: The Wallet
From heaven, one day, did Jupiter proclaim,'Let all that live before my throne appear,And there if any one hath aught to blame,In matter, form, or texture of his frame,He may bring forth his grievance without fear.Redress shall instantly be given to each.Come, monkey, now, first let us have your speech.You see these quadrupeds, your brothers;Comparing, then, yourself with others,Are you well satisfied?' 'And wherefore not?'Says Jock. 'Haven't I four trotters with the rest?Is not my visage comely as the best?But this my brother Bruin, is a blotOn thy creation fair;And sooner than be painted I'd be shot,Were I, great sire, a bear.'The bear approaching, doth he make complaint?Not he;--himself he lauds without restraint.The elephant he needs must criticize;To crop his ears and stretch his tail were wise;A creature he of huge, misshapen size.The elephant, though famed as beast judicious,While on his own account he had no wishes,Pronounced dame whale too big to suit his taste;Of flesh and fat she was a perfect waste.The little ant, again, pronounced the gnat too wee;To such a speck, a vast colossus she.Each censured by the rest, himself content,Back to their homes all living things were sent.Such folly liveth yet with human fools.For others lynxes, for ourselves but moles.Great blemishes in other men we spy,Which in ourselves we pass most kindly by.As in this world we're but way-farers,Kind Heaven has made us wallet-bearers.The pouch behind our own defects must store,The faults of others lodge in that before.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- grievance n.
- A cause of uneasiness and complaint; a wrong done and suffered; that which gives ground for remonstrance or resistance, as arising from injustice, tyranny, etc.; injury. [OF. grcvance. See Grieve, v. t.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- bruin n.
- A bear; -- so called in popular tales and fables. [D. bruin brown. In the epic poem of "Reynard the Fox" the bear is so called from his color. See Brown, a.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- judicious a.
- Of or relating to a court; judicial. [F. judicieux, fr. L. judicium judgment. See Judicial.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- colossus n.
- A statue of gigantic size. The name was especially applied to certain famous statues in antiquity, as the Colossus of Nero in Rome, the Colossus of Apollo at Rhodes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Wallet 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 Wallet, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-7.html, id L28217.
Form and metre
Book I: The Wallet is 37 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAABCCDDEFFEGEGHHIII-IJJKKLL--MMNNOO proclaimA · appearB · blameA · frameA · fearB · eachC · speechC · brothersD · othersD · notE · restF · bestF · blotE · fairG · shotE · bearG · complaintH · restraintH · criticizeI · wiseI · sizeI · judicious · wishesI · tasteJ · wasteJ · weeK · sheK · contentL · sentL · fools · moles · spyM · byM · farersN · bearersN · storeO · beforeO
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| From heaven, one day, did Jupiter proclaim, | 10 | ·/···/˘˘˘/ |
| 'Let all that live before my throne appear, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And there if any one hath aught to blame, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In matter, form, or texture of his frame, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| He may bring forth his grievance without fear. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Redress shall instantly be given to each. | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘·/·· |
| Come, monkey, now, first let us have your speech. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| You see these quadrupeds, your brothers; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Comparing, then, yourself with others, | 9 | ˘/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Are you well satisfied?' 'And wherefore not?' | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Says Jock. 'Haven't I four trotters with the rest? | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| Is not my visage comely as the best? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But this my brother Bruin, is a blot | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| On thy creation fair; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And sooner than be painted I'd be shot, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Were I, great sire, a bear.' | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The bear approaching, doth he make complaint? | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Not he;--himself he lauds without restraint. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| The elephant he needs must criticize; | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| To crop his ears and stretch his tail were wise; | 10 | ·········· |
| A creature he of huge, misshapen size. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The elephant, though famed as beast judicious, | 11 | ·/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| While on his own account he had no wishes, | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Pronounced dame whale too big to suit his taste; | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Of flesh and fat she was a perfect waste. | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| The little ant, again, pronounced the gnat too wee; | 12 | ·/˘·˘/˘/···· |
| To such a speck, a vast colossus she. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Each censured by the rest, himself content, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Back to their homes all living things were sent. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Such folly liveth yet with human fools. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| For others lynxes, for ourselves but moles. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Great blemishes in other men we spy, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Which in ourselves we pass most kindly by. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| As in this world we're but way-farers, | 9 | ········· |
| Kind Heaven has made us wallet-bearers. | 10 | ·/˘···/˘/˘ |
| The pouch behind our own defects must store, | 10 | ····/·/˘·· |
| The faults of others lodge in that before. | 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.