Book VI: The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals
Left kingless by the lion's death,The beasts once met, our story saith,Some fit successor to install.Forth from a dragon-guarded, moated place,The crown was brought, and, taken from its case,And being tried by turns on all,The heads of most were found too small;Some hornèd were, and some too big;Not one would fit the regal gear.For ever ripe for such a rig,The monkey, looking very queer,Approach'd with antics and grimaces,And, after scores of monkey faces,With what would seem a gracious stoop,Pass'd through the crown as through a hoop.The beasts, diverted with the thing,Did homage to him as their king.The fox alone the vote regretted,But yet in public never fretted.When he his compliments had paidTo royalty, thus newly made,'Great sire, I know a place,' said he,'Where lies conceal'd a treasure,Which, by the right of royalty,Should bide your royal pleasure.'The king lack'd not an appetiteFor such financial pelf,And, not to lose his royal right,Ran straight to see it for himself.It was a trap, and he was caught.Said Renard, 'Would you have it thought,You ape, that you can fill a throne,And guard the rights of all, alone,Not knowing how to guard your own?'
The beasts all gather'd from the farce,That stuff for kings is very scarce.
Words in this poem
- kingless a.
- Having no king. F. Lieber.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- install v. t.
- To set in a seat; to give a place to; establish (one) in a place. [F. installer, LL. installare, fr. pref. in- in + OHG. stal a place, stall, G. stall, akin to E. stall: cf. It. installare. See Stall.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
- renard n.
- A fox; -- so called in fables or familiar tales, and in poetry. [F. renard the fox, the name of the fox in a celebrated epic poem, and of German origin, G. Reinhard, OHG. Reginhard, properly, strong in counsel; regin counsel ]
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals 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 Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-6.html, id L28319.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals is 36 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 AABCCBBDEDE--FFGGHHHH-I-IJKJK--LLL deathA · saithA · installB · placeC · caseC · allB · smallB · bigD · gearE · rigD · queerE · grimaces · faces · stoopF · hoopF · thingG · kingG · regrettedH · frettedH · paidH · madeH · he · treasureI · royalty · pleasureI · appetiteJ · pelfK · rightJ · himselfK · caught · thought · throneL · aloneL · ownL
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Left kingless by the lion's death, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The beasts once met, our story saith, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| Some fit successor to install. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Forth from a dragon-guarded, moated place, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| The crown was brought, and, taken from its case, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And being tried by turns on all, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The heads of most were found too small; | 8 | ········ |
| Some hornèd were, and some too big; | 7 | ······· |
| Not one would fit the regal gear. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For ever ripe for such a rig, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The monkey, looking very queer, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Approach'd with antics and grimaces, | 9 | ˘/·/˘·/˘˘ |
| And, after scores of monkey faces, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With what would seem a gracious stoop, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Pass'd through the crown as through a hoop. | 8 | ········ |
| The beasts, diverted with the thing, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Did homage to him as their king. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The fox alone the vote regretted, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| But yet in public never fretted. | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| When he his compliments had paid | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To royalty, thus newly made, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| 'Great sire, I know a place,' said he, | 8 | ·/······ |
| 'Where lies conceal'd a treasure, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Which, by the right of royalty, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Should bide your royal pleasure.' | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The king lack'd not an appetite | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For such financial pelf, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And, not to lose his royal right, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ran straight to see it for himself. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It was a trap, and he was caught. | 8 | ········ |
| Said Renard, 'Would you have it thought, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| You ape, that you can fill a throne, | 8 | ········ |
| And guard the rights of all, alone, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Not knowing how to guard your own?' | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The beasts all gather'd from the farce, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That stuff for kings is very scarce. | 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.