The Fly and the Mule
A Fly that sat upon the beam Rated theMule: "Why, sure you dream?Pray get on faster with the cartOr I shall sting you till you smart!"She answers: "All this talk I hearWith small attention, but must fearHim who upon the box sustainsThe pliant whip, and holds the reins.Cease then your pertness--for I knowWhen to give back, and when to go."This tale derides the talking crew,Whose empty threats are all they do.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fly and the Mule 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 Fly and the Mule, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-fly-and-the-mule.html, id L21278.
Form and metre
The Fly and the Mule is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 --AABBCCDDEE the · dream · cartA · smartA · hearB · fearB · sustainsC · reinsC · knowD · goD · crewE · doE
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 Fly that sat upon the beam Rated the | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Mule: "Why, sure you dream? | 5 | ····· |
| Pray get on faster with the cart | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or I shall sting you till you smart!" | 8 | ········ |
| She answers: "All this talk I hear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With small attention, but must fear | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Him who upon the box sustains | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The pliant whip, and holds the reins. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Cease then your pertness--for I know | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When to give back, and when to go." | 8 | ········ |
| This tale derides the talking crew, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Whose empty threats are all they do. | 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.