Book VIII: The Rat and the Elephant
One's own importance to enhance,Inspirited by self-esteem,Is quite a common thing in France;A French disease it well might seem.The strutting cavaliers of SpainAre in another manner vain.Their pride has more insanity;More silliness our vanity.Let's shadow forth our own disease--Well worth a hundred tales like these.
A rat, of quite the smallest size,Fix'd on an elephant his eyes,And jeer'd the beast of high descentBecause his feet so slowly went.Upon his back, three stories high,There sat, beneath a canopy,A certain sultan of renown,His dog, and cat, and concubine,His parrot, servant, and his wine,All pilgrims to a distant town.The rat profess'd to be amazedThat all the people stood and gazedWith wonder, as he pass'd the road,Both at the creature and his load.'As if,' said he, 'to occupyA little more of land or skyMade one, in view of common sense,Of greater worth and consequence!What see ye, men, in this parade,That food for wonder need be made?The bulk which makes a child afraid?In truth, I take myself to be,In all aspects, as good as he.'And further might have gone his vaunt;But, darting down, the catConvinced him that a ratIs smaller than an elephant.
Words in this poem
- enhance v. t.
- To raise or lift up; to exalt. Wyclif. [Norm. F. enhauncer, enhaucer, OF. enhaleier, enhaucier; pref. en- (L. in) + haucier to lift, raise up, from an assumed L. altiare, fr. L. altus high; cf. Pr. en]
- silliness n.
- The quality or state of being silly.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VIII: The Rat and the Elephant 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 Rat and the Elephant, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/8-15.html, id L28369.
Form and metre
Book VIII: The Rat and the Elephant is 37 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCCDDEE enhanceA · esteemB · franceA · seemB · spainC · vainC · insanityD · vanityD · diseaseE · theseE
- 2 AABBC-DEEDFFGGCCHHIIIJJKLLK sizeA · eyesA · descentB · wentB · highC · canopy · renownD · concubineE · wineE · townD · amazedF · gazedF · roadG · loadG · occupyC · skyC · senseH · consequenceH · paradeI · madeI · afraidI · beJ · heJ · vauntK · catL · ratL · elephantK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One's own importance to enhance, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Inspirited by self-esteem, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Is quite a common thing in France; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A French disease it well might seem. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The strutting cavaliers of Spain | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Are in another manner vain. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Their pride has more insanity; | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| More silliness our vanity. | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Let's shadow forth our own disease-- | 8 | ·/··/·˘/ |
| Well worth a hundred tales like these. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A rat, of quite the smallest size, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fix'd on an elephant his eyes, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And jeer'd the beast of high descent | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Because his feet so slowly went. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Upon his back, three stories high, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There sat, beneath a canopy, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A certain sultan of renown, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| His dog, and cat, and concubine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His parrot, servant, and his wine, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| All pilgrims to a distant town. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The rat profess'd to be amazed | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| That all the people stood and gazed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With wonder, as he pass'd the road, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Both at the creature and his load. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'As if,' said he, 'to occupy | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A little more of land or sky | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Made one, in view of common sense, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of greater worth and consequence! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| What see ye, men, in this parade, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That food for wonder need be made? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The bulk which makes a child afraid? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In truth, I take myself to be, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| In all aspects, as good as he.' | 8 | ··/····· |
| And further might have gone his vaunt; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But, darting down, the cat | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Convinced him that a rat | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| Is smaller than an elephant. | 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.