The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Alfonce/Fable 13
¶ The xiij fable is of the Tayller / of a kynge / and of his seruaunts
MEn ought not to doo some other / that whiche he wold not that it were done to hym / As it appiereth by this present fable / of a kynge whiche had a tayller whiche was as good a workman of his craft / as ony was at that tyme in alle the world / the whiche tayller had with hym many good seruauntes / wherof the one was called Medius / whiche surmounted alle the other in shapynge or sewynge / wherfore the kyng commaunded to his styward that the sayd tayllers shold fare wel / and haue of the best metes and of delycious drynke / ¶ It happed on a daye that the mayster Styward gaf to them ryght good and delycious mete in the whiche was some hony / And by cause that Medius was not atte that feste / the styward sayd to the other / that they shold kepe for hym somme of their mete / And thenne the mayster tayller ansuerd / he must none haue / For yf he were here / he shold not ete of hit / For he ete neuer no hony / And as they had done / Medius came / and demaunded of his felawes / why kepte you not parte of this mete for me / And the styward ansuerd and sayd to hym / By cause that thy mayster sayd to me / that thow ete neuer no hony / no parte of the mete was kepte for the And Medius ansuerd thenne neuer one word / but beganne to thynke/ how he myght paye his mayster / And on a day as the styward was allone with Medius / he demaunded of Medius / yf he knewe no man that coude werke as wel as his mayster / And Medius sayd nay / And that it was grete dommage of a sekeness that he had / And the styward demaunded what sekeness hit was / And thenne Medius ansuerd to hym / My lord whan he is entryd in to his fransy or wodenes / there cometh vpon hym a rage / And how shalle I knowe hit sayd the styward / Certaynly my lord sayd Medius / whan ye shall see that he shalle sette at his werke / and that he shalle loke here and there / and shal smyte vpon his borde with his fyst / thenne may ye know that his sekenesse cometh on hym / And thene withoute ye take and bynde hym and also bete hym wel / he shalle doo grete harme and dommage / And the styward sayd to hym / Care not therof my frend / For wel I shalle beware my self of hym / And on the mornynge next folowynge the styward came for to see the tayllers / And whan Medius whiche knewe wel the cause of his comynge / tooke awaye secretely his maysters sheres / and hydde them / And anone his mayster beganne for to loke after them / and sawe and serched al aboute here and there / and beganne to smyte his fyste vpon the borde / And thenne the mayster styward beganne to loke on his maners / and sodenly made hym to be take and holde by his seruaunts / And after made hym to be bond and wel beten / Thenne was the mayster tayller al abasshed /and demaūded of them / My lordes wherfor doo ye bete me soo outrageously / what offense haue I done / wherfore I must be bound and thus be bete / And thenne the Styward sayd to hym in thys maner / by cause that Medius told me / that thow art frantyk And yf thow be not wel bete / thow sholdest doo grete harme and dommage / And thene the mayster came to his seruaunt Medius and rygorously sayd to hym / Ha a euyl boye fylled whan [with] euylle wordes / whan sawest thow me madde / And his seruaunt proudely ansuerd to hym / My mayster whan dydest thow see that I ete no hony / And therfore I threwe to the one bole for another / And the mayster styward / and alle his seruaunts beganne thenne to lawhe / and sayd al that he hadde wel done / ¶ And therfore men ought not to doo to ony other that thynge whiche they wylle not that men dyd to them /
¶ And folowen other fables of Poge the Florentyn