Book II: The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt
A man, whom I shall call an ass-eteer,His sceptre like some Roman emperor bearing,Drove on two coursers of protracted ear,The one, with sponges laden, briskly faring;The other lifting legsAs if he trod on eggs,With constant need of goading,And bags of salt for loading.O'er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass'd,Till, coming to a river's ford at last,They stopp'd quite puzzled on the shore.Our asseteer had cross'd the stream before;So, on the lighter beast astride,He drives the other, spite of dread,Which, loath indeed to go ahead,Into a deep hole turns aside,And, facing right about,Where he went in, comes out;For duckings two or threeHad power the salt to melt,So that the creature feltHis burden'd shoulders free.The sponger, like a sequent sheep,Pursuing through the water deep,Into the same hole plungesHimself, his rider, and the sponges.All three drank deeply: asseteer and assFor boon companions of their load might pass;Which last became so sore a weight,The ass fell down,Belike to drown,His rider risking equal fate.A helper came, no matter who.The moral needs no more ado--That all can't act alike,--The point I wish'd to strike.
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,]
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- astride adv.
- With one leg on each side, as a man when on horseback; with the legs stretched wide apart; astraddle. [Pref. a- + stride.]
- loath a.
- Hateful; odious; disliked. [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leip]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sponger n.
- One who sponges, or uses a sponge.
- sequent a.
- Following; succeeding; in continuance. [L. sequens, -entis, p. pr. of sequi to follow. See Sue to follow.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- belike adv.
- It is likely or probably; perhaps. -- Be*like"ly, adv. [Pref. be- (for by) + like.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt 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 II: The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-10.html, id L28242.
Form and metre
Book II: The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt is 36 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 A-A-BBCCDDEEFGGFHHIJJIKK--LLMNNMOOPP eteerA · bearing · earA · faring · legsB · eggsB · goadingC · loadingC · pass'dD · lastD · shoreE · beforeE · astrideF · dreadG · aheadG · asideF · aboutH · outH · threeI · meltJ · feltJ · freeI · sheepK · deepK · plunges · sponges · assL · passL · weightM · downN · drownN · fateM · whoO · adoO · alikeP · strikeP
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 man, whom I shall call an ass-eteer, | 10 | ·········· |
| His sceptre like some Roman emperor bearing, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Drove on two coursers of protracted ear, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The one, with sponges laden, briskly faring; | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| The other lifting legs | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| As if he trod on eggs, | 6 | ······ |
| With constant need of goading, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And bags of salt for loading. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O'er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass'd, | 10 | ····//˘/˘· |
| Till, coming to a river's ford at last, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| They stopp'd quite puzzled on the shore. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our asseteer had cross'd the stream before; | 10 | /········· |
| So, on the lighter beast astride, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| He drives the other, spite of dread, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which, loath indeed to go ahead, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Into a deep hole turns aside, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And, facing right about, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where he went in, comes out; | 6 | ······ |
| For duckings two or three | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Had power the salt to melt, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| So that the creature felt | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His burden'd shoulders free. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The sponger, like a sequent sheep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pursuing through the water deep, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Into the same hole plunges | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Himself, his rider, and the sponges. | 9 | ˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| All three drank deeply: asseteer and ass | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For boon companions of their load might pass; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Which last became so sore a weight, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The ass fell down, | 4 | ···· |
| Belike to drown, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| His rider risking equal fate. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| A helper came, no matter who. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The moral needs no more ado-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That all can't act alike,-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The point I wish'd to strike. | 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.