Book II: The Raven Wishing to Imitate the Eagle
The bird of Jove bore off a mutton,A raven being witness.That weaker bird, but equal glutton,Not doubting of his fitnessTo do the same with ease,And bent his taste to please,Took round the flock his sweep,And mark'd among the sheep,The one of fairest flesh and size,A real sheep of sacrifice--A dainty titbit bestial,Reserved for mouth celestial.Our gormand, gloating round,Cried, 'Sheep, I wonder muchWho could have made you such.You're far the fattest I have found;I'll take you for my eating.'And on the creature bleatingHe settled down. Now, sooth to say,This sheep would weighMore than a cheese;And had a fleeceMuch like that matting famousWhich graced the chin of Polyphemus;So fast it clung to every claw,It was not easy to withdraw.The shepherd came, caught, caged, and, to their joy,Gave croaker to his children for a toy.
Ill plays the pilferer the bigger thief;One's self one ought to know;--in brief,Example is a dangerous lure;Death strikes the gnat, where flies the wasp secure.
Words in this poem 15
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- mutton n.
- A sheep. Chapman. [OE. motoun, OF. moton, molton, a sheep, wether, F. mouton, LL. multo, by transposition of l fr. L. mutilus mutilated. See Mutilate.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- bestial a.
- Belonging to a beast, or to the class of beasts. [F. bestial, L. bestialis, fr. bestia beast. See Beast.]
- gormand n.
- A greedy or ravenous eater; a luxurious feeder; a gourmand. [F. gourmand; cf. Prov. F. gourmer to sip, to lap, gourmacher to eat improperly, F. gourme mumps, glanders, Icel. gormr mud, mire, Prov. E. gorm to smear, daub; ]
- bleating a.
- Crying as a sheep does.
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- matting n.
- The act of interweaving or tangling together so as to make a mat; the process of becoming matted. [From Mat, v. t. & i.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
- croaker n.
- One who croaks, murmurs, grumbles, or complains unreasonably; one who habitually forebodes evil.
- pilferer n.
- One who pilfers; a petty thief.
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Raven Wishing to Imitate the Eagle 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 Raven Wishing to Imitate the Eagle, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-16.html, id L28248.
Form and metre
Book II: The Raven Wishing to Imitate the Eagle is 32 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABCCDD--EEFGGFHHIICJJ-KKLL muttonA · witnessB · gluttonA · fitnessB · easeC · pleaseC · sweepD · sheepD · size · sacrifice · bestialE · celestialE · roundF · muchG · suchG · foundF · eatingH · bleatingH · sayI · weighI · cheeseC · fleeceJ · famousJ · polyphemus · clawK · withdrawK · joyL · toyL
- 2 AABB thiefA · briefA · lureB · secureB
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 bird of Jove bore off a mutton, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| A raven being witness. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| That weaker bird, but equal glutton, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Not doubting of his fitness | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| To do the same with ease, | 6 | ······ |
| And bent his taste to please, | 6 | ······ |
| Took round the flock his sweep, | 6 | ······ |
| And mark'd among the sheep, | 6 | ······ |
| The one of fairest flesh and size, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A real sheep of sacrifice-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A dainty titbit bestial, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Reserved for mouth celestial. | 8 | ˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Our gormand, gloating round, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Cried, 'Sheep, I wonder much | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who could have made you such. | 6 | ······ |
| You're far the fattest I have found; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I'll take you for my eating.' | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And on the creature bleating | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| He settled down. Now, sooth to say, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| This sheep would weigh | 4 | ···· |
| More than a cheese; | 4 | ···· |
| And had a fleece | 4 | ···· |
| Much like that matting famous | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Which graced the chin of Polyphemus; | 9 | ········· |
| So fast it clung to every claw, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It was not easy to withdraw. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The shepherd came, caught, caged, and, to their joy, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Gave croaker to his children for a toy. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Ill plays the pilferer the bigger thief; | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| One's self one ought to know;--in brief, | 8 | ········ |
| Example is a dangerous lure; | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Death strikes the gnat, where flies the wasp secure. | 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.