The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Auian/Fable 16
¶ The xvj fable is of the fyssher / and of the lytyl fysshe
En ought not to leue that thynge
whiche is sure & certayne / for
hope to haue the vncertayn / as
to vs reherceth this fable of a
fysshier whiche with his lyne toke
a lytyll fysshe whiche sayd to hym / My frend I
pray the / doo to me none euylle / ne putte
me not to dethe / For now I am nought / for
to be eten / but whanne I shalle be grete / yf
thow come ageyne hyther / of me shalt thow
mowe haue grete auaylle / For thenne I shalle
goo with the good whyle / And the Fyssher
sayd to the fysshe . Syn I hold the now / thou
shalt not scape fro me / For grete foly hit were
to me for to seke the here another tyme / For
men ought not to lete goo that / of what they
be sure of / hopynge to haue afterwards that
that they haue not and whiche is vncertayne.