The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Poge/Fable 6

by Poggio Bracciolini

¶ The syxthe fable is of the passone / of his dogge / And of the Bisshop

 

Yluer dothe and causeth alle thynge to be done vnto the halowynge ageyne of a place whiche is prophane or Interdicte / As ye shalle mowe here by thys presente Fable / ¶ Of a preest dwellynge in the countrey whiche somtyme had a dogge / whiche he loued moche / the whiche preest was moche ryche / The sayd dogge by processe of tyme deyde / & whan he was dede / he entered and buryed hit in the chirche yerd for cause of the grete loue whiche he loued hym / it happed thenne on a day his bisshop knewe hit by thaduertysement of somme other / wherfore he sente for the sayd preest / and suposed to haue of hym a grete somme of gold / or els he shold make hym to be straytly punysshed/ And thenne he wrote a lettre vnto the sayd preest of whiche the tenour conteyned only that he shold come and speke with hym / And whan the prest had redde the lettres / he vnderstood alle the caas / and presupposed or bethought in his courage / that he wold haue of hym somme syluer / For he knewe wel ynough the condycions of his bisshop / & forth with he toke his breuyarye / & an C crownes with hym / the prelate beganne to remembre and to shewe to hym the enormyte of his mysdede / And to hym answerd the preest whiche was ryght wyse sayenge in this manere / O my ryght reuerende fader / yf ye knewe the souerayne prudence of whiche the sayd dogge was fylled / ye shold not be merueylled yf he hath wel desernyd for to be buryed honestly and worshipfully amonge the men / he was al fylled with humayn wytte as wel in his lyf / as in thartycle of the dethe / And thenne the bisshop sayd / how may that be / reherce to me thenne al his lyf / Certaynly ryght reuerende fader ye ought wel to knowe that whanne he was atte thartycle and at the poynt of dethe / he wold make his testament / And the dogge knowyng your grete nede and Indygence / he bequethed to yow an C crownes of gold / the whiche I brynge now vnto yow / And thenne the Bisshop for loue of the money he assoylled the prest And also graunted the sayd sepulture / And therfore syluer causeth alle thynge to be graunted or done.