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The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Auian/Fable 25

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The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs) (1484)
by Avianus, translated by William Caxton
Fable 25: The ape and of his two Children

Numbered 218 in the Perry Index. Click here to create an annotated version of this text.

3927639The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs) — Fable 25: The ape and of his two ChildrenWilliam CaxtonAvianus

¶ The xxv fable is of the ape and of his two children

HE that somtyme men despreysen / may wel helpe somme other / as hit appereth by this Fable of an Ape / whiche had two children / of the whiche he hated the one / & loued the other / whiche he toke in his armes / and with hym fled before the dogges / And whanne the other sawe / that his moder lefte hym behynde / he ranne and lepte on her back / And by cause that the lytyl ape whiche the she ape held in her armes empeched her to flee / she lete hit falle to the erthe / And the other whiche the moder hated held fast and was saued / the whiche from thens forthon kyssed and embraced his moder / And[errata 1] she thenne beganne to loue hym wherfore many tymes it happeth / that that thynge whiche is despreysed / is better than that thynge whiche is loued and preysed / For somtyme the children whiche ben preysed and loued / done lesse[errata 2] good than they whiche ben despreysed and hated


  1. Original: And And was amended to And: detail
  2. Original: lasse was amended to lesse: detail