Book VI: The Lion and the Hunter
A braggart, lover of the chase,Had lost a dog of valued race,And thought him in a lion's maw.He ask'd a shepherd whom he saw,'Pray show me, man, the robber's place,And I'll have justice in the case.'''Tis on this mountain side,'The shepherd man replied.'The tribute of a sheep I pay,Each month, and where I please I stray.'Out leap'd the lion as he spake,And came that way, with agile feet.The braggart, prompt his flight to take,Cried, 'Jove, O grant a safe retreat!'
A danger close at handOf courage is the test.It shows us who will stand--Whose legs will run their best.
About this text
Book VI: The Lion and the Hunter 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 Lion and the Hunter, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-2.html, id L28315.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Lion and the Hunter is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 AABBAACCDDEFEF chaseA · raceA · mawB · sawB · placeA · caseA · sideC · repliedC · payD · strayD · spakeE · feetF · takeE · retreatF
- 2 ABAB handA · testB · standA · bestB
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 braggart, lover of the chase, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Had lost a dog of valued race, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And thought him in a lion's maw. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He ask'd a shepherd whom he saw, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Pray show me, man, the robber's place, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And I'll have justice in the case.' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ''Tis on this mountain side,' | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The shepherd man replied. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| 'The tribute of a sheep I pay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Each month, and where I please I stray.' | 8 | ········ |
| Out leap'd the lion as he spake, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And came that way, with agile feet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The braggart, prompt his flight to take, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Cried, 'Jove, O grant a safe retreat!' | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A danger close at hand | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of courage is the test. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It shows us who will stand-- | 6 | ······ |
| Whose legs will run their best. | 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.