Book X: The Lioness and the Bear
The lioness had lost her young;A hunter stole it from the vale;The forests and the mountains rungResponsive to her hideous wail.Nor night, nor charms of sweet repose,Could still the loud lament that roseFrom that grim forest queen.No animal, as you might think,With such a noise could sleep a wink.A bear presumed to intervene.'One word, sweet friend,' quoth she,'And that is all, from me.The young that through your teeth have pass'd,In file unbroken by a fast,Had they nor dam nor sire?''They had them both.' 'Then I desire,Since all their deaths caused no such grievous riot,While mothers died of grief beneath your fiat,To know why you yourself cannot be quiet?''I quiet!--I!--a wretch bereaved!My only son!--such anguish be relieved!No, never! All for me belowIs but a life of tears and woe!'--'But say, why doom yourself to sorrow so?'--'Alas! 'tis Destiny that is my foe.'
Such language, since the mortal fall,Has fallen from the lips of all.Ye human wretches, give your heed;For your complaints there's little need.Let him who thinks his own the hardest case,Some widowed, childless Hecuba behold,Herself to toil and shame of slavery sold,And he will own the wealth of heavenly grace.
Words in this poem
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
- responsive a.
- That responds; ready or inclined to respond. [Cf. F. resposif.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book X: The Lioness and the Bear 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 X: The Lioness and the Bear, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/10-13.html, id L28413.
Form and metre
Book X: The Lioness and the Bear is 33 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCCDEEDFFGGHHI-IJJKKKK youngA · valeB · rungA · wailB · reposeC · roseC · queenD · thinkE · winkE · interveneD · sheF · meF · pass'dG · fastG · sireH · desireH · riotI · fiat · quietI · bereavedJ · relievedJ · belowK · woeK · soK · foeK
- 2 AABBCDDC fallA · allA · heedB · needB · caseC · beholdD · soldD · graceC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lioness had lost her young; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| A hunter stole it from the vale; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The forests and the mountains rung | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Responsive to her hideous wail. | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nor night, nor charms of sweet repose, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Could still the loud lament that rose | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| From that grim forest queen. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No animal, as you might think, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| With such a noise could sleep a wink. | 8 | ········ |
| A bear presumed to intervene. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| 'One word, sweet friend,' quoth she, | 6 | ······ |
| 'And that is all, from me. | 6 | ······ |
| The young that through your teeth have pass'd, | 8 | ········ |
| In file unbroken by a fast, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Had they nor dam nor sire?' | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| 'They had them both.' 'Then I desire, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Since all their deaths caused no such grievous riot, | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| While mothers died of grief beneath your fiat, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To know why you yourself cannot be quiet?' | 10 | ····/˘/˘·/ |
| 'I quiet!--I!--a wretch bereaved! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| My only son!--such anguish be relieved! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| No, never! All for me below | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is but a life of tears and woe!'-- | 8 | ········ |
| 'But say, why doom yourself to sorrow so?'-- | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| 'Alas! 'tis Destiny that is my foe.' | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
| Such language, since the mortal fall, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Has fallen from the lips of all. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ye human wretches, give your heed; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For your complaints there's little need. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Let him who thinks his own the hardest case, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Some widowed, childless Hecuba behold, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| Herself to toil and shame of slavery sold, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| And he will own the wealth of heavenly grace. | 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.