The Man and the Weasel
A Weasel, by a person caught,And willing to get off, besoughtThe man to spare. "Be not severeOn him that keeps your pantry clearOf those intolerable mice.""This were," says he, "a work of price,If done entirely for my sake,And good had been the plea you make:But since, with all these pains and care,You seize yourself the dainty fareOn which those vermin used to fall,And then devour the mice and all,Urge not a benefit in vain."This said, the miscreant was slain.The satire here those chaps will own,Who, useful to themselves alone,And bustling for a private end,Would boast the merit of a friend.
Words in this poem
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- vermin n.
- An animal, in general. [OE. vermine, F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. verminosus full of worms. See Vermicular, Worm.]
- miscreant n.
- One who holds a false religious faith; a misbeliever. [OF. mescreant, F. mécréant; pref. mes- (L. minus less) + p. pr. fr. L. credere to believe. See Creed.]
- bustling a.
- Agitated; noisy; tumultuous; characterized by confused activity; as, a bustling crowd.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Man and the Weasel 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 Man and the Weasel, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-man-and-the-weasel.html, id L21254.
Form and metre
The Man and the Weasel is 18 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 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII caughtA · besoughtA · severeB · clearB · miceC · priceC · sakeD · makeD · careE · fareE · fallF · allF · vainG · slainG · ownH · aloneH · endI · friendI
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 Weasel, by a person caught, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And willing to get off, besought | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The man to spare. "Be not severe | 8 | ······˘/ |
| On him that keeps your pantry clear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of those intolerable mice." | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| "This were," says he, "a work of price, | 8 | ········ |
| If done entirely for my sake, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And good had been the plea you make: | 8 | ········ |
| But since, with all these pains and care, | 8 | ········ |
| You seize yourself the dainty fare | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| On which those vermin used to fall, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And then devour the mice and all, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Urge not a benefit in vain." | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| This said, the miscreant was slain. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The satire here those chaps will own, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who, useful to themselves alone, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| And bustling for a private end, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Would boast the merit of a friend. | 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.