The Stag and the Oxen
A Stag unharbour'd by the hounds,Forth from his woodland covert bounds,And blind with terror, at th' alarmOf death, makes to a neighb'ring farm;There snug conceals him in some straw,Which in an ox's stall he saw."Wretch that thou art!" a bullock cried,"That com'st within this place to hide;By trusting man you are undone,And into sure destruction run."But he with suppliant voice replies:"Do you but wink with both your eyes,I soon shall my occasions shape,To make from hence a fair escape."The day is spent, the night succeeds,The herdsman comes, the cattle feeds,But nothing sees--then to and froTime after time the servants go;Yet not a soul perceives the case.The steward passes by the place,Himself no wiser than the rest.The joyful Stag his thanks address'dTo all the Oxen, that he thereHad found a refuge in despair."We wish you well," an Ox return'd,"But for your life are still concern'd,For if old Argus come, no doubt,His hundred eyes will find you out."Scarce had the speaker made an end,When from the supper of a friendThe master enters at the door,And, seeing that the steers were poorOf late, advances to the rack."Why were the fellow's hands so slack?Here's hardly any straw at all,Brush down those cobwebs from the wall.Pray how much labour would it ask?"While thus he undertakes the task,To dust, and rummage by degrees,The Stag's exalted horns he sees:Then calling all his folks around,He lays him breathless on the ground.The master, as the tale declares,Looks sharpest to his own affairs.
Words in this poem
- bullock n.
- A young bull, or any male of the ox kind. [AS. bulluc a young bull. See Bull.]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- suppliant a.
- Asking earnestly and submissively; entreating; beseeching; supplicating. [F., p.pr. of supplier to entreat, L. supplicare. See Supplicate, and cf. Supplicant.]
- 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,]
- argus n.
- A fabulous being of antiquity, said to have had a hundred eyes, who has placed by Juno to guard Io. His eyes were transplanted to the peacock's tail.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- rummage n.
- A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a ship; also, the act of stowing cargo; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage; -- formerly written romage. [For roomage, fr. room; hence originally, a making room, a packing away closely. See Room.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Stag and the Oxen 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 Stag and the Oxen, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-stag-and-the-oxen.html, id L21271.
Form and metre
The Stag and the Oxen is 44 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 95% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOO--PPQQRRSSTTUU houndsA · boundsA · alarmB · farmB · strawC · sawC · criedD · hideD · undoneE · runE · repliesF · eyesF · shapeG · escapeG · succeedsH · feedsH · froI · goI · caseJ · placeJ · restK · address'dK · thereL · despairL · return'dM · concern'dM · doubtN · outN · endO · friendO · door · poor · rackP · slackP · allQ · wallQ · askR · taskR · degreesS · seesS · aroundT · groundT · declaresU · affairsU
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 Stag unharbour'd by the hounds, | 8 | ········ |
| Forth from his woodland covert bounds, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And blind with terror, at th' alarm | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Of death, makes to a neighb'ring farm; | 8 | ········ |
| There snug conceals him in some straw, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Which in an ox's stall he saw. | 7 | ······· |
| "Wretch that thou art!" a bullock cried, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "That com'st within this place to hide; | 8 | ········ |
| By trusting man you are undone, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And into sure destruction run." | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| But he with suppliant voice replies: | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| "Do you but wink with both your eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| I soon shall my occasions shape, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To make from hence a fair escape." | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The day is spent, the night succeeds, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The herdsman comes, the cattle feeds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But nothing sees--then to and fro | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Time after time the servants go; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet not a soul perceives the case. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The steward passes by the place, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Himself no wiser than the rest. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The joyful Stag his thanks address'd | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To all the Oxen, that he there | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had found a refuge in despair. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| "We wish you well," an Ox return'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| "But for your life are still concern'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For if old Argus come, no doubt, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His hundred eyes will find you out." | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Scarce had the speaker made an end, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When from the supper of a friend | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The master enters at the door, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And, seeing that the steers were poor | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of late, advances to the rack. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "Why were the fellow's hands so slack? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Here's hardly any straw at all, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Brush down those cobwebs from the wall. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Pray how much labour would it ask?" | 8 | ···/···· |
| While thus he undertakes the task, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To dust, and rummage by degrees, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The Stag's exalted horns he sees: | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Then calling all his folks around, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He lays him breathless on the ground. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The master, as the tale declares, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Looks sharpest to his own affairs. | 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.
- Those spiders' webs)--Ver. 23. The mode of clearing away the spider webs may be seen described in the beginning of the "Stichus" of Plautus.
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.