Book V: Fortune and the Boy
Beside a well, uncurb'd and deep,A schoolboy laid him down to sleep:(Such rogues can do so anywhere.)If some kind man had seen him there,He would have leap'd as if distracted;But Fortune much more wisely acted;For, passing by, she softly waked the child,Thus whispering in accents mild:'I save your life, my little dear,And beg you not to venture hereAgain, for had you fallen in,I should have had to bear the sin;But I demand, in reason's name,If for your rashness I'm to blame?'With this the goddess went her way.I like her logic, I must say.There takes place nothing on this planet,But Fortune ends, whoe'er began it.In all adventures good or ill,We look to her to foot the bill.Has one a stupid, empty pate,That serves him never till too late,He clears himself by blaming Fate!
Words in this poem
- schoolboy n.
- A boy belonging to, or attending, a school.
- rashness n.
- The quality of state of being rash.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book V: Fortune and the Boy 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 V: Fortune and the Boy, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/5-11.html, id L28303.
Form and metre
Book V: Fortune and the Boy is 23 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 96% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKK deepA · sleepA · anywhereB · thereB · distractedC · actedC · childD · mildD · dearE · hereE · inF · sinF · nameG · blameG · wayH · sayH · planetI · itI · illJ · billJ · pateK · lateK · fateK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beside a well, uncurb'd and deep, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: | 8 | ·/······ |
| (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If some kind man had seen him there, | 8 | ········ |
| He would have leap'd as if distracted; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| But Fortune much more wisely acted; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| For, passing by, she softly waked the child, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Thus whispering in accents mild: | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| 'I save your life, my little dear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And beg you not to venture here | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Again, for had you fallen in, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| I should have had to bear the sin; | 8 | ········ |
| But I demand, in reason's name, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| If for your rashness I'm to blame?' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With this the goddess went her way. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I like her logic, I must say. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There takes place nothing on this planet, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| But Fortune ends, whoe'er began it. | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| In all adventures good or ill, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| We look to her to foot the bill. | 8 | ········ |
| Has one a stupid, empty pate, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That serves him never till too late, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He clears himself by blaming Fate! | 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.