The Wolf and Crane
Who for his merit seeks a priceFrom men of violence and vice,Is twice a fool--first so declared,As for the worthless he has cared;Then after all, his honest aimMust end in punishment and shame.A bone the Wolf devour'd in haste,Stuck in his greedy throat so fast,That, tortured with the pain, he roar'd,And ev'ry beast around implored,That who a remedy could findShould have a premium to his mind.A Crane was wrought upon to trustHis oath at length--and down she thrustHer neck into his throat impure,And so perform'd a desp'rate cure.At which, when she desired her fee,"You base, ungrateful minx," says he,"Whom I so kind forbore to kill,And now, forsooth, you'd bring your bill!"
Words in this poem
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- minx n.
- The mink; -- called also minx otter. [See Mink.]
- forsooth v. t.
- To address respectfully with the term forsooth.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wolf and Crane 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 Wolf and Crane, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-wolf-and-crane.html, id L21241.
Form and metre
The Wolf and Crane is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCC--DDEEFFGGHHII priceA · viceA · declaredB · caredB · aimC · shameC · haste · fast · roar'dD · imploredD · findE · mindE · trustF · thrustF · impureG · cureG · feeH · heH · killI · billI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who for his merit seeks a price | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From men of violence and vice, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Is twice a fool--first so declared, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As for the worthless he has cared; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then after all, his honest aim | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Must end in punishment and shame. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| A bone the Wolf devour'd in haste, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Stuck in his greedy throat so fast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That, tortured with the pain, he roar'd, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And ev'ry beast around implored, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That who a remedy could find | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Should have a premium to his mind. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A Crane was wrought upon to trust | 8 | ········ |
| His oath at length--and down she thrust | 8 | ········ |
| Her neck into his throat impure, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And so perform'd a desp'rate cure. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| At which, when she desired her fee, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| "You base, ungrateful minx," says he, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "Whom I so kind forbore to kill, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And now, forsooth, you'd bring your bill!" | 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.