Book XII: The Sick Stag
A stag, where stags abounded,Fell sick, and was surroundedForthwith by comrades kind,All pressing to assist,Or see, their friend, at least,And ease his anxious mind--An irksome multitude.'Ah, sirs!' the sick was fain to cry,'Pray leave me here to die,As others do, in solitude.Pray, let your kind attentions cease,Till death my spirit shall release.'But comforters are not so sent:On duty sad full long intent,When Heaven pleased, they went:But not without a friendly glass;That is to say, they cropp'd the grassAnd leaves which in that quarter grew,From which the sick his pittance drew.By kindness thus compell'd to fast,He died for want of food at last.The men take off no trifling doleWho heal the body, or the soul.Alas the times! do what we will,They have their payment, cure or kill.
Words in this poem
- forthwith adv.
- Immediately; without delay; directly.
- irksome a.
- Wearisome; tedious; disagreeable or troublesome by reason of long continuance or repetition; as, irksome hours; irksome tasks.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- 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,]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- pittance n.
- An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole. [OE. pitance, pitaunce, F. pitance; cf. It. pietanza, LL. pitancia, pittantia, pictantia; perh. fr. L. pietas pity, piety, or perhaps akin to E. petty. Cf. Petty]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book XII: The Sick Stag 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 XII: The Sick Stag, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/12-6.html, id L28432.
Form and metre
Book XII: The Sick Stag is 25 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAB--BCDDCEEFFFGGHHGGIIJJ aboundedA · surroundedA · kindB · assist · least · mindB · multitudeC · cryD · dieD · solitudeC · ceaseE · releaseE · sentF · intentF · wentF · glassG · grassG · grewH · drewH · fastG · lastG · doleI · soulI · willJ · killJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A stag, where stags abounded, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Fell sick, and was surrounded | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Forthwith by comrades kind, | 6 | //·/·· |
| All pressing to assist, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Or see, their friend, at least, | 6 | ······ |
| And ease his anxious mind-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| An irksome multitude. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| 'Ah, sirs!' the sick was fain to cry, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Pray leave me here to die, | 6 | ······ |
| As others do, in solitude. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pray, let your kind attentions cease, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Till death my spirit shall release.' | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But comforters are not so sent: | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| On duty sad full long intent, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When Heaven pleased, they went: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But not without a friendly glass; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That is to say, they cropp'd the grass | 8 | ········ |
| And leaves which in that quarter grew, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From which the sick his pittance drew. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By kindness thus compell'd to fast, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| He died for want of food at last. | 8 | ········ |
| The men take off no trifling dole | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who heal the body, or the soul. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Alas the times! do what we will, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| They have their payment, cure or kill. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.