The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Auian/Fable 1
¶ The fyrst fable is of the old woman and of the wulf
En ought not by byleue on al maner
spyrytes / As reherceth this fable
of an old woman / which said to
her child bicause that it wept /
certeynly if thow wepst ony more /
I shal make the to be ate of the wulf / & the
wulf heryng this old woman / abode styll to fore
the yate / & supposed to haue eten the old
womans child / & by cause that the wulf had soo
longe taryed there that he was hongry / he retorned
and went ageyne in to the wood/ And
the shewulf demaunded of hym / why hast thow
not brought to me some mete / And the wulf
ansuerd / by cause / that the old woman hath begyled
me / the whiche had promysed to me to
gyue to me her child for to haue ete hym / And
at the laste I hadde hit not / And therfore men
ought in no wyse to trust the woman / And he
is wel a fole that setteth his hope and truste in a
woman / And therfore truste them not / and thow
shalt doo as the sage and wyse