Book V: The Little Fish and the Fisher
A little fish will grow,If life be spared, a great;But yet to let him go,And for his growing wait,May not be very wise,As 'tis not sure your baitWill catch him when of size.Upon a river bank, a fisher tookA tiny troutling from his hook.Said he, ''Twill serve to count, at least,As the beginning of my feast;And so I'll put it with the rest.'This little fish, thus caught,His clemency besought.'What will your honour do with me?I'm not a mouthful, as you see.Pray let me grow to be a trout,And then come here and fish me out.Some alderman, who likes things nice,Will buy me then at any price.But now, a hundred such you'll have to fish,To make a single good-for-nothing dish.''Well, well, be it so,' replied the fisher,'My little fish, who play the preacher,The frying-pan must be your lot,Although, no doubt, you like it not:I fry the fry that can be got.'
In some things, men of sensePrefer the present to the future tense.
Words in this poem
- troutling n.
- A little trout; a troutlet.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- mouthful n.
- As much as is usually put into the mouth at one time.
- alderman n.
- A senior or superior; a person of rank or dignity. [AS. aldormon, ealdorman; ealdor an elder + man. See Elder, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book V: The Little Fish and the Fisher 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 Little Fish and the Fisher, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/5-3.html, id L28295.
Form and metre
Book V: The Little Fish and the Fisher is 29 lines in 2 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABCBCDDEE-FFGGHHIIJJ--FFF growA · greatB · goA · waitB · wiseC · baitB · sizeC · tookD · hookD · leastE · feastE · rest · caughtF · besoughtF · meG · seeG · troutH · outH · niceI · priceI · fishJ · dishJ · fisher · preacher · lotF · notF · gotF
- 2 AA senseA · tenseA
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 little fish will grow, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If life be spared, a great; | 6 | ······ |
| But yet to let him go, | 6 | ······ |
| And for his growing wait, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| May not be very wise, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As 'tis not sure your bait | 6 | ······ |
| Will catch him when of size. | 6 | ······ |
| Upon a river bank, a fisher took | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A tiny troutling from his hook. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Said he, ''Twill serve to count, at least, | 8 | ········ |
| As the beginning of my feast; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And so I'll put it with the rest.' | 8 | ········ |
| This little fish, thus caught, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His clemency besought. | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| 'What will your honour do with me? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I'm not a mouthful, as you see. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Pray let me grow to be a trout, | 8 | ········ |
| And then come here and fish me out. | 8 | ········ |
| Some alderman, who likes things nice, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Will buy me then at any price. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But now, a hundred such you'll have to fish, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To make a single good-for-nothing dish.' | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| 'Well, well, be it so,' replied the fisher, | 10 | ·····˘/·/˘ |
| 'My little fish, who play the preacher, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The frying-pan must be your lot, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Although, no doubt, you like it not: | 8 | ········ |
| I fry the fry that can be got.' | 8 | ········ |
| In some things, men of sense | 6 | ······ |
| Prefer the present to the future tense. | 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.