Book VI: The Countryman and the Serpent
A countryman, as Aesop certifies,A charitable man, but not so wise,One day in winter found,Stretch'd on the snowy ground,A chill'd or frozen snake,As torpid as a stake,And, if alive, devoid of sense.He took him up, and bore him home,And, thinking not what recompenseFor such a charity would come,Before the fire stretch'd him,And back to being fetch'd him.The snake scarce felt the genial heatBefore his heart with native malice beat.He raised his head, thrust out his forkèd tongue,Coil'd up, and at his benefactor sprung.'Ungrateful wretch!' said he, 'is this the wayMy care and kindness you repay?Now you shall die.' With that his axe he takes,And with two blows three serpents makes.Trunk, head, and tail were separate snakes;And, leaping up with all their might,They vainly sought to reunite.
'Tis good and lovely to be kind;But charity should not be blind;For as to wretchedness ingrate,You cannot raise it from its wretched state.
Words in this poem
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- 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,]
- reunite v. t.
- To unite again; to join after separation or variance.
- ingrate n.
- An ungrateful person.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: The Countryman and the Serpent 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 VI: The Countryman and the Serpent, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-13.html, id L28326.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Countryman and the Serpent is 27 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCCDEDEFFGGHHIIJJJKK certifiesA · wiseA · foundB · groundB · snakeC · stakeC · senseD · homeE · recompenseD · comeE · himF · himF · heatG · beatG · tongueH · sprungH · wayI · repayI · takesJ · makesJ · snakesJ · mightK · reuniteK
- 2 AABB kindA · blindA · ingrateB · stateB
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 countryman, as Aesop certifies, | 9 | ·/˘·/·/˘· |
| A charitable man, but not so wise, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One day in winter found, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Stretch'd on the snowy ground, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A chill'd or frozen snake, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As torpid as a stake, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And, if alive, devoid of sense. | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| He took him up, and bore him home, | 8 | ········ |
| And, thinking not what recompense | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For such a charity would come, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Before the fire stretch'd him, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And back to being fetch'd him. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The snake scarce felt the genial heat | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Before his heart with native malice beat. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| He raised his head, thrust out his forkèd tongue, | 9 | ········· |
| Coil'd up, and at his benefactor sprung. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| 'Ungrateful wretch!' said he, 'is this the way | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| My care and kindness you repay? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Now you shall die.' With that his axe he takes, | 10 | ·········· |
| And with two blows three serpents makes. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Trunk, head, and tail were separate snakes; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And, leaping up with all their might, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They vainly sought to reunite. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| 'Tis good and lovely to be kind; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But charity should not be blind; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| For as to wretchedness ingrate, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| You cannot raise it from its wretched state. | 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.