Book II: The Bat and the Two Weasels
A blundering bat once stuck her headInto a wakeful weasel's bed;Whereat the mistress of the house,A deadly foe of rats and mice,Was making ready in a triceTo eat the stranger as a mouse.'What! do you dare,' she said, 'to creep inThe very bed I sometimes sleep in,Now, after all the provocationI've suffer'd from your thievish nation?Are you not really a mouse,That gnawing pest of every house,Your special aim to do the cheese ill?Ay, that you are, or I'm no weasel.''I beg your pardon,' said the bat;'My kind is very far from that.What! I a mouse! Who told you such a lie?Why, ma'am, I am a bird;And, if you doubt my word,Just see the wings with which I fly.Long live the mice that cleave the sky!'These reasons had so fair a show,The weasel let the creature go.
By some strange fancy led,The same wise blunderhead,But two or three days later,Had chosen for her restAnother weasel's nest,This last, of birds a special hater.New peril brought this step absurd;Without a moment's thought or puzzle,Dame weasel oped her peaked muzzleTo eat th' intruder as a bird.'Hold! do not wrong me,' cried the bat;'I'm truly no such thing as that.Your eyesight strange conclusions gathers.What makes a bird, I pray? Its feathers.I'm cousin of the mice and rats.Great Jupiter confound the cats!'The bat, by such adroit replying,Twice saved herself from dying.
And many a human strangerThus turns his coat in danger;And sings, as suits, where'er he goes,'God save the king!'--or 'save his foes!'
Words in this poem
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- pest n.
- A fatal epidemic disease; a pestilence; specif., the plague. [L. pestis: cf. F. peste.]
- blunderhead n.
- A stupid, blundering fellow.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- peaked a.
- Pointed; ending in a point; as, a peaked roof.
- intruder n.
- One who intrudes; one who thrusts himself in, or enters without right, or without leave or welcome; a trespasser.
- eyesight n.
- Sight of the eye; the sense of seeing; view; observation.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: The Bat and the Two Weasels 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 Bat and the Two Weasels, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/2-5.html, id L28237.
Form and metre
Book II: The Bat and the Two Weasels is 45 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 AABCCBDDEEBBFFGGHIIHHJJ headA · bedA · houseB · miceC · triceC · mouseB · inD · inD · provocationE · nationE · mouseB · houseB · illF · weaselF · batG · thatG · lieH · birdI · wordI · flyH · skyH · showJ · goJ
- 2 AABCCBDEEDFF--GGHH ledA · blunderheadA · laterB · restC · nestC · haterB · absurdD · puzzleE · muzzleE · birdD · batF · thatF · gathers · feathers · ratsG · catsG · replyingH · dyingH
- 3 AABB strangerA · dangerA · goesB · foesB
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 blundering bat once stuck her head | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Into a wakeful weasel's bed; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whereat the mistress of the house, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| A deadly foe of rats and mice, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Was making ready in a trice | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To eat the stranger as a mouse. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'What! do you dare,' she said, 'to creep in | 9 | ········· |
| The very bed I sometimes sleep in, | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| Now, after all the provocation | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| I've suffer'd from your thievish nation? | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Are you not really a mouse, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| That gnawing pest of every house, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Your special aim to do the cheese ill? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Ay, that you are, or I'm no weasel.' | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| 'I beg your pardon,' said the bat; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'My kind is very far from that. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What! I a mouse! Who told you such a lie? | 10 | ·········· |
| Why, ma'am, I am a bird; | 6 | ······ |
| And, if you doubt my word, | 6 | ······ |
| Just see the wings with which I fly. | 8 | ········ |
| Long live the mice that cleave the sky!' | 8 | ········ |
| These reasons had so fair a show, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The weasel let the creature go. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By some strange fancy led, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The same wise blunderhead, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| But two or three days later, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Had chosen for her rest | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Another weasel's nest, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| This last, of birds a special hater. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| New peril brought this step absurd; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Without a moment's thought or puzzle, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Dame weasel oped her peaked muzzle | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| To eat th' intruder as a bird. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| 'Hold! do not wrong me,' cried the bat; | 8 | ········ |
| 'I'm truly no such thing as that. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Your eyesight strange conclusions gathers. | 9 | ·/··˘/˘/˘ |
| What makes a bird, I pray? Its feathers. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I'm cousin of the mice and rats. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Great Jupiter confound the cats!' | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| The bat, by such adroit replying, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Twice saved herself from dying. | 8 | ··˘˘/·/˘ |
| And many a human stranger | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Thus turns his coat in danger; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And sings, as suits, where'er he goes, | 9 | ····˘˘/·· |
| 'God save the king!'--or 'save his foes!' | 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.