Book VI: The Sick Lion and the Fox
Sick in his den, we understand,The king of beasts sent out commandThat of his vassals every sortShould send some deputies to court--With promise well to treatEach deputy and suite;On faith of lion, duly written,None should be scratch'd, much less be bitten.The royal will was executed,And some from every tribe deputed;The foxes, only, would not come.One thus explain'd their choice of home:--'Of those who seek the court, we learn,The tracks upon the sandHave one direction, andNot one betokens a return.This fact begetting some distrust,His majesty at present mustExcuse us from his great levee.His plighted word is good, no doubt;But while how beasts get in we see,We do not see how they get out.'
Words in this poem
- suite n.
- A retinue or company of attendants, as of a distinguished personage; as, the suite of an ambassador. See Suit, n., 5. [F. See Suit, n.]
- levee n.
- The act of rising. [F. lever, fr. lever to raise, se lever to rise. See Lever, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: The Sick Lion and the Fox 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 Sick Lion and the Fox, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-14.html, id L28327.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Sick Lion and the Fox is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGAAGHH-I-I understandA · commandA · sortB · courtB · treatC · suiteC · writtenD · bittenD · executedE · deputedE · comeF · homeF · learnG · sandA · andA · returnG · distrustH · mustH · levee · doubtI · see · outI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sick in his den, we understand, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The king of beasts sent out command | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That of his vassals every sort | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Should send some deputies to court-- | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| With promise well to treat | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Each deputy and suite; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| On faith of lion, duly written, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| None should be scratch'd, much less be bitten. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The royal will was executed, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·˘ |
| And some from every tribe deputed; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The foxes, only, would not come. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| One thus explain'd their choice of home:-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| 'Of those who seek the court, we learn, | 8 | ········ |
| The tracks upon the sand | 6 | ······ |
| Have one direction, and | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Not one betokens a return. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| This fact begetting some distrust, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| His majesty at present must | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Excuse us from his great levee. | 8 | ˘/····/˘ |
| His plighted word is good, no doubt; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But while how beasts get in we see, | 8 | ········ |
| We do not see how they get out.' | 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.