Book V: The Fox with His Tail Cut Off
A cunning old fox, of plundering habits,Great crauncher of fowls, great catcher of rabbits,Whom none of his sort had caught in a nap,Was finally caught in somebody's trap.By luck he escaped, not wholly and hale,For the price of his luck was the loss of his tail.Escaped in this way, to save his disgrace,He thought to get others in similar case.One day that the foxes in council were met,'Why wear we,' said he, 'this cumbering weight,Which sweeps in the dirt wherever it goes?Pray tell me its use, if any one knows.If the council will take my advice,We shall dock off our tails in a trice.''Your advice may be good,' said one on the ground;'But, ere I reply, pray turn yourself round.'Whereat such a shout from the council was heard,Poor bob-tail, confounded, could say not a word.To urge the reform would have wasted his breath.Long tails were the mode till the day of his death.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- 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,]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book V: The Fox with His Tail Cut Off 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 Fox with His Tail Cut Off, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/5-5.html, id L28297.
Form and metre
Book V: The Fox with His Tail Cut Off is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ habitsA · rabbitsA · napB · trapB · haleC · tailC · disgraceD · caseD · metE · weightE · goesF · knowsF · adviceG · triceG · groundH · roundH · heardI · wordI · breathJ · deathJ
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A cunning old fox, of plundering habits, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| Great crauncher of fowls, great catcher of rabbits, | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Whom none of his sort had caught in a nap, | 10 | ·········· |
| Was finally caught in somebody's trap. | 10 | ·/˘˘··/·˘· |
| By luck he escaped, not wholly and hale, | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| For the price of his luck was the loss of his tail. | 12 | ············ |
| Escaped in this way, to save his disgrace, | 11 | ˘/˘······˘/ |
| He thought to get others in similar case. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘· |
| One day that the foxes in council were met, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| 'Why wear we,' said he, 'this cumbering weight, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Which sweeps in the dirt wherever it goes? | 10 | ·····˘/˘·· |
| Pray tell me its use, if any one knows. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| If the council will take my advice, | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| We shall dock off our tails in a trice.' | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| 'Your advice may be good,' said one on the ground; | 11 | ·˘/········ |
| 'But, ere I reply, pray turn yourself round.' | 10 | ···˘/··˘/· |
| Whereat such a shout from the council was heard, | 11 | ˘/·····/˘·· |
| Poor bob-tail, confounded, could say not a word. | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| To urge the reform would have wasted his breath. | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| Long tails were the mode till the day of his death. | 11 | ··········· |
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.