Book II: The Wolf Accusing the Fox Before the Monkey
A wolf, affirming his beliefThat he had suffer'd by a thief,Brought up his neighbour fox--Of whom it was by all confess'd,His character was not the best--To fill the prisoner's box.As judge between these vermin,A monkey graced the ermine;And truly other gifts of ThemisDid scarcely seem his;For while each party plead his cause,Appealing boldly to the laws,And much the question vex'd,Our monkey sat perplex'd.Their words and wrath expended,Their strife at length was ended;When, by their malice taught,The judge this judgment brought:'Your characters, my friends, I long have known,As on this trial clearly shown;And hence I fine you both--the grounds at largeTo state would little profit--You wolf, in short, as bringing groundless charge,You fox, as guilty of it.'
Come at it right or wrong, the judge opinedNo other than a villain could be fined.
Words in this poem
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- vermin n.
- An animal, in general. [OE. vermine, F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. verminosus full of worms. See Vermicular, Worm.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- themis n.
- The goddess of law and order; the patroness of existing rights.
- appealing a.
- That appeals; imploring.
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- groundless a.
- Without ground or foundation; wanting cause or reason for support; not authorized; false; as, groundless fear; a groundless report or assertion. [AS. grundleás bottomless.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Wolf Accusing the Fox Before the Monkey 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 Wolf Accusing the Fox Before the Monkey, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-3.html, id L28235.
Form and metre
Book II: The Wolf Accusing the Fox Before the Monkey is 26 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 54% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 AABCCB----DDEEFFGGHHIGIG beliefA · thiefA · foxB · confess'dC · bestC · boxB · vermin · ermine · themis · his · causeD · lawsD · vex'dE · perplex'dE · expendedF · endedF · taughtG · broughtG · knownH · shownH · largeI · profitG · chargeI · itG
- 2 AA opinedA · finedA
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 wolf, affirming his belief | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| That he had suffer'd by a thief, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Brought up his neighbour fox-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of whom it was by all confess'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| His character was not the best-- | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| To fill the prisoner's box. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| As judge between these vermin, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A monkey graced the ermine; | 8 | ·/˘·˘·/˘ |
| And truly other gifts of Themis | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Did scarcely seem his; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| For while each party plead his cause, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Appealing boldly to the laws, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And much the question vex'd, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Our monkey sat perplex'd. | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Their words and wrath expended, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Their strife at length was ended; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| When, by their malice taught, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The judge this judgment brought: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Your characters, my friends, I long have known, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| As on this trial clearly shown; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And hence I fine you both--the grounds at large | 10 | ·········· |
| To state would little profit-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| You wolf, in short, as bringing groundless charge, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| You fox, as guilty of it.' | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Come at it right or wrong, the judge opined | 10 | ········˘/ |
| No other than a villain could be fined. | 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.