The Sheep, the Dog, and the Wolf
Liars are liable to rueThe mischief they're so prone to do.The Sheep a Dog unjustly dunn'dOne loaf directly to refund,Which he the Dog to the said SheepHad given in confidence to keep.The Wolf was summoned, and he sworeIt was not one, but ten or more.The Sheep was therefore cast at lawTo pay for things she never saw.But, lo! ere many days ensued,Dead in a ditch the Wolf she view'd:"This, this," she cried, "is Heaven's decreeOf justice on a wretch like thee."
Words in this poem
- refund v. t.
- To fund again or anew; to replace (a fund or loan) by a new fund; as, to refund a railroad loan. [Pref. re- + fund.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sheep, the Dog, and the Wolf 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 Sheep, the Dog, and the Wolf, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-sheep-the-dog-and-the-wolf.html, id L21250.
Form and metre
The Sheep, the Dog, and the Wolf is 14 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG rueA · doA · dunn'dB · refundB · sheepC · keepC · sworeD · moreD · lawE · sawE · ensuedF · view'dF · decreeG · theeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Liars are liable to rue | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| The mischief they're so prone to do. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Sheep a Dog unjustly dunn'd | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| One loaf directly to refund, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Which he the Dog to the said Sheep | 8 | ········ |
| Had given in confidence to keep. | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| The Wolf was summoned, and he swore | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It was not one, but ten or more. | 8 | ········ |
| The Sheep was therefore cast at law | 8 | ········ |
| To pay for things she never saw. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But, lo! ere many days ensued, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Dead in a ditch the Wolf she view'd: | 8 | ········ |
| "This, this," she cried, "is Heaven's decree | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| Of justice on a wretch like thee." | 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.
- Liars generally)--Ver. 1. It is supposed by some that this Fable is levelled against the informers who infested Rome in the days of Tiberius.
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.