Book V: The Lion Going to War
The lion had an enterprise in hand;Held a war-council, sent his provost-marshal,And gave the animals a call impartial--Each, in his way, to serve his high command.The elephant should carry on his backThe tools of war, the mighty public pack,And fight in elephantine way and form;The bear should hold himself prepared to storm;The fox all secret stratagems should fix;The monkey should amuse the foe by tricks.'Dismiss,' said one, 'the blockhead asses,And hares, too cowardly and fleet.''No,' said the king; 'I use all classes;Without their aid my force were incomplete.The ass shall be our trumpeter, to scareOur enemy. And then the nimble hareOur royal bulletins shall homeward bear.'
A monarch provident and wiseWill hold his subjects all of consequence,And know in each what talent lies.There's nothing useless to a man of sense.
Words in this poem
- amuse v. t.
- To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. [F. amuser to make stay, to detain, to amuse, ad) + OF. muser. See Muse, v.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- trumpeter n.
- One who sounds a trumpet.
- scare v. t.
- To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book V: The Lion Going to War 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: The Lion Going to War, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/5-19.html, id L28311.
Form and metre
Book V: The Lion Going to War is 21 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBACCDDEEFGFGHHH handA · marshalB · impartialB · commandA · backC · packC · formD · stormD · fixE · tricksE · assesF · fleetG · classesF · incompleteG · scareH · hareH · bearH
- 2 ABAB wiseA · consequenceB · liesA · senseB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The lion had an enterprise in hand; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Held a war-council, sent his provost-marshal, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And gave the animals a call impartial-- | 11 | ···/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| Each, in his way, to serve his high command. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The elephant should carry on his back | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The tools of war, the mighty public pack, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And fight in elephantine way and form; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The bear should hold himself prepared to storm; | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| The fox all secret stratagems should fix; | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| The monkey should amuse the foe by tricks. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| 'Dismiss,' said one, 'the blockhead asses, | 9 | ˘/···/·/˘ |
| And hares, too cowardly and fleet.' | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| 'No,' said the king; 'I use all classes; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Without their aid my force were incomplete. | 10 | ·······˘˘/ |
| The ass shall be our trumpeter, to scare | 10 | ····//˘˘·· |
| Our enemy. And then the nimble hare | 10 | //˘˘···/˘· |
| Our royal bulletins shall homeward bear.' | 10 | //˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| A monarch provident and wise | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| Will hold his subjects all of consequence, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| And know in each what talent lies. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There's nothing useless to a man of sense. | 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.