The Eagle, Carrion Crow, and Tortoise
No soul can warrant life or right,Secure from men of lawless might;But if a knave's advice assist,'Gainst fraud and force what can exist?An Eagle on a Tortoise fell,And mounting bore him by the shell:She with her house her body screens,Nor can be hurt by any means.A Carrion Crow came by that way,"You've got," says she, "a luscious prey;But soon its weight will make you rue,Unless I show you what to do."The captor promising a share,She bids her from the upper airTo dash the shell against a rock,Which would be sever'd by the shock.The Eagle follows her behest,Then feasts on turtle with his guest.Thus she, whom Nature made so strong,And safe against external wrong,No match for force, and its allies,To cruel death a victim dies.
Words in this poem
- luscious a.
- Sweet; delicious; very grateful to the taste; toothsome; excessively sweet or rich. [Prob. for lustious, fr. lusty, or perh. a corruption of luxurious. Cf. Lush, Lusty.]
- captor n.
- One who captures any person or thing, as a prisoner or a prize. [L., a cather (of animals), fr. caper to take.]
- promising a.
- Making a promise or promises; affording hope or assurance; as, promising person; a promising day.
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Eagle, Carrion Crow, and Tortoise 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 Eagle, Carrion Crow, and Tortoise, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-eagle-carrion-crow-and-tortoise.html, id L21269.
Form and metre
The Eagle, Carrion Crow, and Tortoise 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 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK rightA · mightA · assistB · existB · fellC · shellC · screensD · meansD · wayE · preyE · rueF · doF · shareG · airG · rockH · shockH · behestI · guestI · strongJ · wrongJ · alliesK · diesK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No soul can warrant life or right, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Secure from men of lawless might; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| But if a knave's advice assist, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| 'Gainst fraud and force what can exist? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| An Eagle on a Tortoise fell, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And mounting bore him by the shell: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| She with her house her body screens, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor can be hurt by any means. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A Carrion Crow came by that way, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "You've got," says she, "a luscious prey; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But soon its weight will make you rue, | 8 | ········ |
| Unless I show you what to do." | 8 | ········ |
| The captor promising a share, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| She bids her from the upper air | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To dash the shell against a rock, | 8 | ········ |
| Which would be sever'd by the shock. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Eagle follows her behest, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Then feasts on turtle with his guest. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus she, whom Nature made so strong, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And safe against external wrong, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| No match for force, and its allies, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To cruel death a victim dies. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
Henry T. Riley's notes to his prose translation of the Fables of Phaedrus (George Bell & Sons, 1887; Project Gutenberg #25512), aligned fable-by-fable, per book, against Christopher Smart's verse translation of the same fables, which is what the site carries.
- Literally: Whatever violence and unscrupulousness attack, comes.
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.