Book IV: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid
As went the goat her pendent dugs to fill,And browse the herbage of a distant hill,She latch'd her door, and bid,With matron care, her kid;--'My daughter, as you live,This portal don't undoTo any creature whoThis watchword does not give:"Deuce take the wolf and all his race!"'The wolf was passing near the placeBy chance, and heard the words with pleasure,And laid them up as useful treasure;And hardly need we mention,Escaped the goat's attention.No sooner did he seeThe matron off, than he,With hypocritic tone and face,Cried out before the place,'Deuce take the wolf and all his race!'Not doubting thus to gain admission.The kid, not void of all suspicion,Peer'd through a crack, and cried,'Show me white paw beforeYou ask me to undo the door.'The wolf could not, if he had died,For wolves have no connexionWith paws of that complexion.So, much surprised, our gormandiserRetired to fast till he was wiser.How would the kid have been undoneHad she but trusted to the wordThe wolf by chance had overheard!Two sureties better are than one;And caution's worth its cost,Though sometimes seeming lost.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- connexion n.
- Connection. See Connection. [L. connexio: cf. F. connexion.]
- complexion n.
- The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid 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 IV: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/4-15.html, id L28285.
Form and metre
Book IV: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid is 35 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 51% 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 AABB-CC-DDEEFFGGHHHIIJKKJLLMMLNNL-- fillA · hillA · bidB · kidB · live · undoC · whoC · give · raceD · placeD · pleasureE · treasureE · mentionF · attentionF · seeG · heG · faceH · placeH · raceH · admissionI · suspicionI · criedJ · beforeK · doorK · diedJ · connexionL · complexionL · gormandiserM · wiserM · undoneL · wordN · overheardN · oneL · cost · lost
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As went the goat her pendent dugs to fill, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And browse the herbage of a distant hill, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| She latch'd her door, and bid, | 6 | ······ |
| With matron care, her kid;-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'My daughter, as you live, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| This portal don't undo | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| To any creature who | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| This watchword does not give: | 6 | ·/···· |
| "Deuce take the wolf and all his race!"' | 8 | ········ |
| The wolf was passing near the place | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By chance, and heard the words with pleasure, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And laid them up as useful treasure; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And hardly need we mention, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Escaped the goat's attention. | 7 | ˘/··˘/˘ |
| No sooner did he see | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The matron off, than he, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With hypocritic tone and face, | 8 | ········ |
| Cried out before the place, | 6 | ······ |
| 'Deuce take the wolf and all his race!' | 8 | ········ |
| Not doubting thus to gain admission. | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| The kid, not void of all suspicion, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Peer'd through a crack, and cried, | 6 | ······ |
| 'Show me white paw before | 6 | ······ |
| You ask me to undo the door.' | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The wolf could not, if he had died, | 8 | ········ |
| For wolves have no connexion | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| With paws of that complexion. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| So, much surprised, our gormandiser | 9 | ··˘//···· |
| Retired to fast till he was wiser. | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| How would the kid have been undone | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Had she but trusted to the word | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wolf by chance had overheard! | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Two sureties better are than one; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And caution's worth its cost, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Though sometimes seeming lost. | 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.