Book II: The Dove and the Ant
The same instruction we may getFrom another couple, smaller yet.
A dove came to a brook to drink,When, leaning o'er its crumbling brink,An ant fell in, and vainly tried,In this, to her, an ocean tide,To reach the land; whereat the dove,With every living thing in love,Was prompt a spire of grass to throw her,By which the ant regain'd the shore.
A barefoot scamp, both mean and sly,Soon after chanced this dove to spy;And, being arm'd with bow and arrow,The hungry codger doubted notThe bird of Venus, in his pot,Would make a soup before the morrow.Just as his deadly bow he drew,Our ant just bit his heel.Roused by the villain's squeal,The dove took timely hint, and flewFar from the rascal's coop;--And with her flew his soup.
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
- barefoot a.
- With the feet bare; without shoes or stockings.
- scamp n.
- A rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape. originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.]
- codger n.
- A miser or mean person. [Cf. Cadger.]
- squeal v. i.
- To cry with a sharp, shrill, prolonged sound, as certain animals do, indicating want, displeasure, or pain. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. sqväla, Norw. skvella. Cf. Squeak, Squall.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Dove and the Ant 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 Dove and the Ant, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-12.html, id L28244.
Form and metre
Book II: The Dove and the Ant is 22 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AA getA · yetA
- 2 AABBCC-- drinkA · brinkA · triedB · tideB · doveC · loveC · her · shore
- 3 AA-BB-CDDCEE slyA · spyA · arrow · notB · potB · morrow · drewC · heelD · squealD · flewC · coopE · soupE
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 same instruction we may get | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| From another couple, smaller yet. | 9 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| A dove came to a brook to drink, | 8 | ········ |
| When, leaning o'er its crumbling brink, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| An ant fell in, and vainly tried, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In this, to her, an ocean tide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To reach the land; whereat the dove, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| With every living thing in love, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Was prompt a spire of grass to throw her, | 9 | ········· |
| By which the ant regain'd the shore. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A barefoot scamp, both mean and sly, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Soon after chanced this dove to spy; | 8 | ········ |
| And, being arm'd with bow and arrow, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The hungry codger doubted not | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The bird of Venus, in his pot, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Would make a soup before the morrow. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Just as his deadly bow he drew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our ant just bit his heel. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Roused by the villain's squeal, | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| The dove took timely hint, and flew | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Far from the rascal's coop;-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And with her flew his soup. | 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.