Book VI: Discord
The goddess Discord, having made, on high,Among the gods a general grapple,And thence a lawsuit, for an apple,Was turn'd out, bag and baggage, from the sky.The animal call'd man, with open arms,Received the goddess of such naughty charms,--Herself and Whether-or-no, her brother,With Thine-and-mine, her stingy mother.In this, the lower universe,Our hemisphere she chose to curse:For reasons good she did not pleaseTo visit our antipodes--Folks rude and savage like the beasts,Who, wedding-free from forms and priests,In simple tent or leafy bower,Make little work for such a power.That she might know exactly whereHer direful aid was in demand,Renown flew courier through the land,Reporting each dispute with care;Then she, outrunning Peace, was quickly there;And if she found a spark of ire,Was sure to blow it to a fire.At length, Renown got out of patienceAt random hurrying o'er the nations,And, not without good reason, thoughtA goddess, like her mistress, oughtTo have some fix'd and certain home,To which her customers might come;For now they often search'd in vain.With due location, it was plainShe might accomplish vastly more,And more in season than before.To find, howe'er, the right facilities,Was harder, then, than now it is;For then there were no nunneries.
So, Hymen's inn at last assign'd,Thence lodged the goddess to her mind.
Words in this poem
- lawsuit n.
- An action at law; a suit in equity or admiralty; any legal proceeding before a court for the enforcement of a claim.
- naughty a.
- Having little or nothing.
- antipodes n.
- Those who live on the side of the globe diametrically opposite.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- direful a.
- Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. [Dire + -ful.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- vastly adv.
- To a vast extent or degree; very greatly; immensely. Jer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: Discord 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: Discord, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-20.html, id L28333.
Form and metre
Book VI: Discord is 38 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 ABBACCDDEE--FFGGHIIHH----JJKKLLMMNNN highA · grappleB · appleB · skyA · armsC · charmsC · brotherD · motherD · universeE · curseE · please · antipodes · beastsF · priestsF · bowerG · powerG · whereH · demandI · landI · careH · thereH · ire · fire · patience · nations · thoughtJ · oughtJ · homeK · comeK · vainL · plainL · moreM · beforeM · facilitiesN · isN · nunneriesN
- 2 AA assign'dA · mindA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The goddess Discord, having made, on high, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Among the gods a general grapple, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And thence a lawsuit, for an apple, | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Was turn'd out, bag and baggage, from the sky. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The animal call'd man, with open arms, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Received the goddess of such naughty charms,-- | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Herself and Whether-or-no, her brother, | 10 | ˘/······/˘ |
| With Thine-and-mine, her stingy mother. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| In this, the lower universe, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Our hemisphere she chose to curse: | 8 | //˘····· |
| For reasons good she did not please | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To visit our antipodes-- | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Folks rude and savage like the beasts, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who, wedding-free from forms and priests, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In simple tent or leafy bower, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Make little work for such a power. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| That she might know exactly where | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Her direful aid was in demand, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Renown flew courier through the land, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Reporting each dispute with care; | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Then she, outrunning Peace, was quickly there; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And if she found a spark of ire, | 8 | ········ |
| Was sure to blow it to a fire. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| At length, Renown got out of patience | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| At random hurrying o'er the nations, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And, not without good reason, thought | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A goddess, like her mistress, ought | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To have some fix'd and certain home, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To which her customers might come; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| For now they often search'd in vain. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With due location, it was plain | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| She might accomplish vastly more, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And more in season than before. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To find, howe'er, the right facilities, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Was harder, then, than now it is; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For then there were no nunneries. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| So, Hymen's inn at last assign'd, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thence lodged the goddess to her mind. | 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.