Fable I. the Wolf and the Lamb
By thirst incited; to the brookThe Wolf and Lamb themselves betook.The Wolf high up the current drank,The Lamb far lower down the bank.Then, bent his rav'nous maw to cram,The Wolf took umbrage at the Lamb."How dare you trouble all the flood,And mingle my good drink with mud?""Sir," says the Lambkin, sore afraid,"How should I act, as you upbraid?The thing you mention cannot be,The stream descends from you to me."Abash'd by facts, says he, "I know'Tis now exact six months agoYou strove my honest fame to blot"--"Six months ago, sir, I was not.""Then 'twas th' old ram thy sire," he cried,And so he tore him, till he died.To those this fable I addressWho are determined to oppress,And trump up any false pretence,But they will injure innocence.
Words in this poem
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- umbrage n.
- Shade; shadow; obscurity; hence, that which affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage. [F. ombrage shade, suspicion, umbrage, L. umbraticus belonging to shade, fr. umbra a shade. Cf. Umber, Umbratic.]
- upbraid n.
- The act of reproaching; contumely.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fable I. the Wolf and the Lamb is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #25512; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phaedrus, Fable I. the Wolf and the Lamb, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/fable-i-the-wolf-and-the-lamb.html, id L21234.
Form and metre
Fable I. the Wolf and the Lamb is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK brookA · betookA · drankB · bankB · cramC · lambC · floodD · mudD · afraidE · upbraidE · beF · meF · knowG · agoG · blotH · notH · criedI · diedI · addressJ · oppressJ · pretenceK · innocenceK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By thirst incited; to the brook | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The Wolf and Lamb themselves betook. | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| The Wolf high up the current drank, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Lamb far lower down the bank. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then, bent his rav'nous maw to cram, | 8 | ········ |
| The Wolf took umbrage at the Lamb. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "How dare you trouble all the flood, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And mingle my good drink with mud?" | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "Sir," says the Lambkin, sore afraid, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| "How should I act, as you upbraid? | 8 | ······/· |
| The thing you mention cannot be, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The stream descends from you to me." | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Abash'd by facts, says he, "I know | 8 | ˘/······ |
| 'Tis now exact six months ago | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| You strove my honest fame to blot"-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Six months ago, sir, I was not." | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| "Then 'twas th' old ram thy sire," he cried, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And so he tore him, till he died. | 8 | ········ |
| To those this fable I address | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Who are determined to oppress, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| And trump up any false pretence, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But they will injure innocence. | 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.