Book III: The Wolves and the Sheep
By-gone a thousand years of war,The wearers of the fleeceAnd wolves at last made peace;Which both appear'd the better for;For if the wolves had now and thenEat up a straggling ewe or wether,As often had the shepherd menTurn'd wolf-skins into leather.Fear always spoil'd the verdant herbage,And so it did the bloody carnage.Hence peace was sweet; and, lest it should be riven,On both sides hostages were given.The sheep, as by the terms arranged,For pups of wolves their dogs exchanged;Which being done above suspicion,Confirm'd and seal'd by high commission,What time the pups were fully grown,And felt an appetite for prey,And saw the sheepfold left alone,The shepherds all away,They seized the fattest lambs they could,And, choking, dragg'd them to the wood;Of which, by secret means apprised,Their sires, as is surmised,Fell on the hostage guardians of the sheep,And slew them all asleep.So quick the deed of perfidy was done,There fled to tell the tale not one!
From which we may concludeThat peace with villains will be rued.Peace in itself, 'tis true,May be a good for you;But 'tis an evil, nathless,When enemies are faithless.
Words in this poem
- straggling a.
- from Straggle, v.
- wether n.
- A castrated ram. [OE. wether, AS. we; akin to OS. wethar, withar, a ram, D. weder, G. widder, OHG. widar, Icel. ver, Sw. vädur, Dan. vædder, Goth. wiprus a lamb, L. vitulus calf,]
- carnage n.
- Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
- sheepfold n.
- A fold or pen for sheep; a place where sheep are collected or confined.
- choking a.
- That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation.
- hostage n.
- A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or stipulations of any kind, on the performance of which the person is to be released. [OE. hostage, OF. hostage, ostage, F. ôtage, LL. hostaticus, ostaticum, for hospitaticum, fr. L. hospes guest, host. The first meaning is, the state of a guest, ]
- perfidy n.
- The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; teachery. [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. para away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.]
- conclude v. t.
- To shut up; to inclose. [L. concludere, conclusum; con- + claudere to shut. See Close, v. t.]
- nathless adv.
- Nevertheless. Chaucer. Milton. E. Arnold. [OE. natheles, na the les, not the less, AS. na never. See Na, The, conj., and cf. Nevertheless.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: The Wolves and the Sheep 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 III: The Wolves and the Sheep, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/3-13.html, id L28265.
Form and metre
Book III: The Wolves and the Sheep is 34 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABBACDCD--EEFFGGHIHIJJKKLLMM warA · fleeceB · peaceB · forA · thenC · wetherD · menC · leatherD · herbage · carnage · rivenE · givenE · arrangedF · exchangedF · suspicionG · commissionG · grownH · preyI · aloneH · awayI · couldJ · woodJ · apprisedK · surmisedK · sheepL · asleepL · doneM · oneM
- 2 AABBCC concludeA · ruedA · trueB · youB · nathlessC · faithlessC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By-gone a thousand years of war, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wearers of the fleece | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And wolves at last made peace; | 6 | ······ |
| Which both appear'd the better for; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| For if the wolves had now and then | 8 | ········ |
| Eat up a straggling ewe or wether, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| As often had the shepherd men | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Turn'd wolf-skins into leather. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Fear always spoil'd the verdant herbage, | 9 | ·/···/˘/˘ |
| And so it did the bloody carnage. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Hence peace was sweet; and, lest it should be riven, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| On both sides hostages were given. | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| The sheep, as by the terms arranged, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For pups of wolves their dogs exchanged; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Which being done above suspicion, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Confirm'd and seal'd by high commission, | 9 | ˘/····˘/˘ |
| What time the pups were fully grown, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And felt an appetite for prey, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And saw the sheepfold left alone, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The shepherds all away, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| They seized the fattest lambs they could, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, choking, dragg'd them to the wood; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of which, by secret means apprised, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Their sires, as is surmised, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Fell on the hostage guardians of the sheep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And slew them all asleep. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So quick the deed of perfidy was done, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| There fled to tell the tale not one! | 8 | ········ |
| From which we may conclude | 6 | ····˘/ |
| That peace with villains will be rued. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Peace in itself, 'tis true, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| May be a good for you; | 6 | ······ |
| But 'tis an evil, nathless, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| When enemies are faithless. | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
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.