The Ass and the Lion Hunting
A coward, full of pompous speech,The ignorant may overreach;But is the laughing-stock of thoseWho know how far his valor goes.Once on a time it came to pass,The Lion hunted with the Ass,Whom hiding in the thickest shadeHe there proposed should lend him aid,By trumpeting so strange a bray,That all the beasts he should dismay,And drive them o'er the desert heathInto the lurking Lion's teeth.Proud of the task, the long-ear'd loonStruck up such an outrageous tune,That 'twas a miracle to hear--The beasts forsake their haunts with fear,And in the Lion's fangs expired:Who, being now with slaughter tired,Call'd out the Ass, whose noise he stops.The Ass, parading from the copse,Cried out with most conceited scoff,"How did my music-piece go off?""So well--were not thy courage known,Their terror had been all my own!"
Words in this poem
- overreach v. t.
- To reach above or beyond in any direction.
- trumpeting n.
- A channel cut behind the brick lining of a shaft. Raymond.
- bray v. t.
- To pound, beat, rub, or grind small or fine. [OE. brayen, OF. breier, F. broyer to pound, grind, fr. OHG. brehhan to break. See Break.]
- outrageous a.
- Of the nature of an outrage; exceeding the limits of right, reason, or decency; involving or doing an outrage; furious; violent; atrocious. [OF. outrageus, F. outrageux. See Outrage, n.]
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- conceited a.
- Endowed with fancy or imagination.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ass and the Lion Hunting 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, The Ass and the Lion Hunting, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-ass-and-the-lion-hunting.html, id L21244.
Form and metre
The Ass and the Lion Hunting is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKK speechA · overreachA · thoseB · goesB · passC · assC · shadeD · aidD · brayE · dismayE · heathF · teethF · loonG · tuneG · hearH · fearH · expired · tired · stopsI · copseI · scoffJ · offJ · knownK · ownK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A coward, full of pompous speech, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The ignorant may overreach; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| But is the laughing-stock of those | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who know how far his valor goes. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Once on a time it came to pass, | 8 | ········ |
| The Lion hunted with the Ass, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Whom hiding in the thickest shade | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He there proposed should lend him aid, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| By trumpeting so strange a bray, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| That all the beasts he should dismay, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And drive them o'er the desert heath | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Into the lurking Lion's teeth. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Proud of the task, the long-ear'd loon | 8 | ········ |
| Struck up such an outrageous tune, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| That 'twas a miracle to hear-- | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The beasts forsake their haunts with fear, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And in the Lion's fangs expired: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Who, being now with slaughter tired, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Call'd out the Ass, whose noise he stops. | 8 | ········ |
| The Ass, parading from the copse, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Cried out with most conceited scoff, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| "How did my music-piece go off?" | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "So well--were not thy courage known, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their terror had been all my own!" | 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.