Book VI: The Horse and the Ass
In such a world, all men, of every grade,Should each the other kindly aid;For, if beneath misfortune's goadA neighbour falls, on you will fall his load.
There jogg'd in company an ass and horse;Nought but his harness did the last endorse;The other bore a load that crush'd him down,And begg'd the horse a little help to give,Or otherwise he could not reach the town.'This prayer,' said he, 'is civil, I believe;One half this burden you would scarcely feel.'The horse refused, flung up a scornful heel,And saw his comrade die beneath the weight:--And saw his wrong too late;For on his own proud backThey put the ass's pack,And over that, beside,They put the ass's hide.
Words in this poem
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- endorse n.
- A subordinary, resembling the pale, but of one fourth its width (according to some writers, one eighth).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: The Horse and the Ass 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 Horse and the Ass, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-16.html, id L28329.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Horse and the Ass is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABB gradeA · aidA · goadB · loadB
- 2 AAB-B-CCDDEEFF horseA · endorseA · downB · give · townB · believe · feelC · heelC · weightD · lateD · backE · packE · besideF · hideF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In such a world, all men, of every grade, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Should each the other kindly aid; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For, if beneath misfortune's goad | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A neighbour falls, on you will fall his load. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| There jogg'd in company an ass and horse; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Nought but his harness did the last endorse; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The other bore a load that crush'd him down, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And begg'd the horse a little help to give, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or otherwise he could not reach the town. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'This prayer,' said he, 'is civil, I believe; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| One half this burden you would scarcely feel.' | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The horse refused, flung up a scornful heel, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And saw his comrade die beneath the weight:-- | 10 | ···/······ |
| And saw his wrong too late; | 6 | ······ |
| For on his own proud back | 6 | ······ |
| They put the ass's pack, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And over that, beside, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| They put the ass's hide. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.