Book VIII: The Funeral of the Lioness
The lion's consort died:Crowds, gather'd at his side,Must needs console the prince,And thus their loyalty evinceBy compliments of course;Which make affliction worse.Officially he citesHis realm to funeral rites,At such a time and place;His marshals of the maceWould order the affair.Judge you if all came there.Meantime, the prince gave wayTo sorrow night and day.With cries of wild lamentHis cave he well-nigh rent.And from his courtiers far and near,Sounds imitative you might hear.
The court a country seems to me,Whose people are, no matter what,--Sad, gay, indifferent, or not,--As suits the will of majesty;Or, if unable so to be,Their task it is to seem it all--Chameleons, monkeys, great and small.'Twould seem one spirit serves a thousand bodies--A paradise, indeed, for soulless noddies.
But to our tale again:The stag graced not the funeral train;Of tears his cheeks bore not a stain;For how could such a thing have been,When death avenged him on the queen,Who, not content with taking one,Had choked to death his wife and son?The tears, in truth, refused to run.A flatterer, who watch'd the while,Affirm'd that he had seen him smile.If, as the wise man somewhere saith,A king's is like a lion's wrath,What should King Lion's be but death?The stag, however, could not read;Hence paid this proverb little heed,And walk'd, intrepid, to'ards the throne;When thus the king, in fearful tone:'Thou caitiff of the wood!Presum'st to laugh at such a time?Joins not thy voice the mournful chime?We suffer not the bloodOf such a wretch profaneOur sacred claws to stain.Wolves, let a sacrifice be made,Avenge your mistress' awful shade.''Sire,' did the stag reply,The time for tears is quite gone by;For in the flowers, not far from here,Your worthy consort did appear;Her form, in spite of my surprise,I could not fail to recognise."My friend," said she, "bewareLest funeral pomp about my bier,When I shall go with gods to share,Compel thine eye to drop a tear.With kindred saints I roveIn the Elysian grove,And taste a sort of blissUnknown in worlds like this.Still, let the royal sorrow flowIts proper season here below;'Tis not unpleasing, I confess."'The king and court scarce hear him out.Up goes the loud and welcome shout--'A miracle! an apotheosis!'And such at once the fashion is,So far from dying in a ditch,The stag retires with presents rich.
Amuse the ear of royaltyWith pleasant dreams, and flattery,--No matter what you may have done,Nor yet how high its wrath may run,--The bait is swallow'd--object won.
Words in this poem 16
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- evince v. t.
- To conquer; to subdue. [L. evincere vanquish completely, prevail, succeed in proving; e out + vincere to vanquish. See Victor, and cf. Evict.]
- soulless a.
- Being without a soul, or without greatness or nobleness of mind; mean; spiritless.
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- caitiff a.
- Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- recognise v. t.
- To know again; to perceive the identity of, with a person or thing previously known; to recover or recall knowledge of. [From Recognizance; see Cognition, and cf. Reconnoiter.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- 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]
- apotheosis n.
- The act of elevating a mortal to the rank of, and placing him among,
- amuse v. t.
- To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. [F. amuser to make stay, to detain, to amuse, ad) + OF. muser. See Muse, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VIII: The Funeral of the Lioness 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 VIII: The Funeral of the Lioness, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/8-14.html, id L28368.
Form and metre
Book VIII: The Funeral of the Lioness is 80 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 65% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII diedA · sideA · princeB · evinceB · courseC · worseC · citesD · ritesD · placeE · maceE · affairF · thereF · wayG · dayG · lamentH · rentH · nearI · hearI
- 2 A---ABBCC meA · what · not · majesty · beA · allB · smallB · bodiesC · noddiesC
- 3 -AA--BBBCCDDD--EEFGGFHHIIJJKKLLKKKKMMNNOOPQQP-RR again · trainA · stainA · been · queen · oneB · sonB · runB · whileC · smileC · saithD · wrathD · deathD · read · heed · throneE · toneE · woodF · timeG · chimeG · bloodF · profaneH · stainH · madeI · shadeI · replyJ · byJ · hereK · appearK · surpriseL · recogniseL · bewareK · bierK · shareK · tearK · roveM · groveM · blissN · thisN · flowO · belowO · confessP · outQ · shoutQ · apotheosisP · is · ditchR · richR
- 4 --AAA royalty · flattery · doneA · runA · wonA
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 lion's consort died: | 6 | ·/˘˘/· |
| Crowds, gather'd at his side, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Must needs console the prince, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And thus their loyalty evince | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| By compliments of course; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Which make affliction worse. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Officially he cites | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| His realm to funeral rites, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| At such a time and place; | 6 | ······ |
| His marshals of the mace | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Would order the affair. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Judge you if all came there. | 6 | ······ |
| Meantime, the prince gave way | 6 | /····· |
| To sorrow night and day. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With cries of wild lament | 6 | ····˘/ |
| His cave he well-nigh rent. | 6 | ······ |
| And from his courtiers far and near, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sounds imitative you might hear. | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| The court a country seems to me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose people are, no matter what,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sad, gay, indifferent, or not,-- | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| As suits the will of majesty; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Or, if unable so to be, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Their task it is to seem it all-- | 8 | ········ |
| Chameleons, monkeys, great and small. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| 'Twould seem one spirit serves a thousand bodies-- | 10 | ···/··/˘/˘ |
| A paradise, indeed, for soulless noddies. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| But to our tale again: | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| The stag graced not the funeral train; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of tears his cheeks bore not a stain; | 8 | ········ |
| For how could such a thing have been, | 8 | ········ |
| When death avenged him on the queen, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Who, not content with taking one, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Had choked to death his wife and son? | 8 | ········ |
| The tears, in truth, refused to run. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A flatterer, who watch'd the while, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Affirm'd that he had seen him smile. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| If, as the wise man somewhere saith, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| A king's is like a lion's wrath, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What should King Lion's be but death? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The stag, however, could not read; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hence paid this proverb little heed, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And walk'd, intrepid, to'ards the throne; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| When thus the king, in fearful tone: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Thou caitiff of the wood! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Presum'st to laugh at such a time? | 8 | ········ |
| Joins not thy voice the mournful chime? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We suffer not the blood | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of such a wretch profane | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Our sacred claws to stain. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Wolves, let a sacrifice be made, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Avenge your mistress' awful shade.' | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| 'Sire,' did the stag reply, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| The time for tears is quite gone by; | 8 | ········ |
| For in the flowers, not far from here, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Your worthy consort did appear; | 8 | ·/˘˘/·˘/ |
| Her form, in spite of my surprise, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I could not fail to recognise. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "My friend," said she, "beware | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Lest funeral pomp about my bier, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When I shall go with gods to share, | 8 | ········ |
| Compel thine eye to drop a tear. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With kindred saints I rove | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In the Elysian grove, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And taste a sort of bliss | 6 | ······ |
| Unknown in worlds like this. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Still, let the royal sorrow flow | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its proper season here below; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'Tis not unpleasing, I confess."' | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The king and court scarce hear him out. | 8 | ········ |
| Up goes the loud and welcome shout-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'A miracle! an apotheosis!' | 9 | ·/˘·˘·˘/˘ |
| And such at once the fashion is, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So far from dying in a ditch, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The stag retires with presents rich. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Amuse the ear of royalty | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| With pleasant dreams, and flattery,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| No matter what you may have done, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor yet how high its wrath may run,-- | 8 | ········ |
| The bait is swallow'd--object won. | 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.