The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quartus/Fable 14
¶ The xiiij fable is of the hedgehogge and of the lytyl kyddes
T behoueth[errata 1] not to the yong and
lytyl of age to mocke ne scorne
theyr older / As this fable sayth /
of thre lytyl hedgehogges / whiche
mocked a grete hedgehogge /
whiche fled before a wulf / And whanne he
perceyued the scornyng of them / he sayd to
them / Ha a poure fooles & wood ye wote not
wherfore I fle / For yf ye wyst and knewe wel
thynconuenyent[errata 2] and paryll / ye shold not mocke
of hit / And therfore whan men seen that the
grete and myghty ben ferdful and doubtous /
the lasse or lytyll oughen not to be assured / For
whan the toune is taken and goten by fortune
of warre the Country aboute is not therfore
more acertayned / but ouȝt to tremble and shake