The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Primus/Fable 1

by Aesop

¶ The first fable is of the cock and of the precious stone /

 

s a Cok ones sought his pasture in the donghylle / he fond a precious stone / to whome the Cok sayd / Ha a fayre stone and precious thow arte here in the fylth And yf he that desyreth the had found the / as I haue he wold haue take the vp / and sette the ageyne in thy fyrst estate / but in vayne I haue found the / For no thynge I haue to do with the / ne no good I may doo to the ne thou to me / And thys fable sayde Esope to them that rede this book / For by the cok is to vnderstond the fool which retcheth not of sapyence ne of wysedome / as the cok retcheth and setteth not by the precious stone / And by the stone is to vnderstond this fayre and playsaunt book