Book X: The Dog Whose Ears Were Cropped
'What have I done, I'd like to know,To make my master maim me so?A pretty figure I shall cut!From other dogs I'll keep, in kennel shut.Ye kings of beasts, or rather tyrants, ho!Would any beast have served you so?'Thus Growler cried, a mastiff young;--The man, whom pity never stung,Went on to prune him of his ears.Though Growler whined about his losses,He found, before the lapse of years,Himself a gainer by the process;For, being by his nature proneTo fight his brethren for a bone,He'd oft come back from sad reverseWith those appendages the worse.All snarling dogs have ragged ears.
The less of hold for teeth of foe,The better will the battle go.When, in a certain place, one fearsThe chance of being hurt or beat,He fortifies it from defeat.Besides the shortness of his ears,See Growler arm'd against his likesWith gorget full of ugly spikes.A wolf would find it quite a puzzleTo get a hold about his muzzle.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- kennel n.
- The water course of a street; a little canal or channel; a gutter; also, a puddle. Bp. Hall. [See Channel, Canal.]
- growler n.
- One who growls.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- gorget n.
- A piece of armor, whether of chain mail or of plate, defending the throat and upper part of the breast, and forming a part of the double breastplate of the 14th century. [OF. gorgete, dim. of gorge throat. See Gorge, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book X: The Dog Whose Ears Were Cropped 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 Dog Whose Ears Were Cropped, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/10-9.html, id L28409.
Form and metre
Book X: The Dog Whose Ears Were Cropped is 27 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 AABBAACCD-D-EEFFD knowA · soA · cutB · shutB · hoA · soA · youngC · stungC · earsD · losses · yearsD · process · proneE · boneE · reverseF · worseF · earsD
- 2 AABCCBDDEE foeA · goA · fearsB · beatC · defeatC · earsB · likesD · spikesD · puzzleE · muzzleE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'What have I done, I'd like to know, | 8 | ········ |
| To make my master maim me so? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A pretty figure I shall cut! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From other dogs I'll keep, in kennel shut. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Ye kings of beasts, or rather tyrants, ho! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Would any beast have served you so?' | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thus Growler cried, a mastiff young;-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The man, whom pity never stung, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Went on to prune him of his ears. | 8 | ········ |
| Though Growler whined about his losses, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| He found, before the lapse of years, | 8 | ········ |
| Himself a gainer by the process; | 9 | ˘/·/˘··/· |
| For, being by his nature prone | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To fight his brethren for a bone, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He'd oft come back from sad reverse | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With those appendages the worse. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| All snarling dogs have ragged ears. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The less of hold for teeth of foe, | 8 | ········ |
| The better will the battle go. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When, in a certain place, one fears | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The chance of being hurt or beat, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He fortifies it from defeat. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Besides the shortness of his ears, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| See Growler arm'd against his likes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With gorget full of ugly spikes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A wolf would find it quite a puzzle | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To get a hold about his muzzle. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.