Numbered 15 in the Perry Index. Translated from French by William Caxton and first published in 1484. Click here to create an annotated version of this text.
¶ The fyrst fable maketh mencyon of the foxe and of the raysyns
E is not wyse / that desyreth to haue
a thynge whiche he may not
haue / As reciteth this fableOf
a foxe / whiche loked and beheld
the raysyns that grewe vpon an
hyghe vyne / the whiche raysyns he moche
desyred for to ete them¶ And whanne he
sawe that none he myght gete / he torned his
sorowe in to Ioye / and sayd these raysyns ben sowre / and yf I had some I wold not ete them /
And therfore this fable sheweth that he is wyse /
whiche fayneth not to desyre that thynge the
whiche he may not haue/
E is not wyse / that desyreth to haue
a thynge whiche he may not
haue / As reciteth this fable Of
a foxe / whiche loked and beheld
the raysyns that grewe vpon an
hyghe vyne / the whiche raysyns he moche
desyred for to ete them ¶ And whanne he
sawe that none he myght gete / he torned his
sorowe in to Ioye / and sayd these raysyns ben sowre / and yf I had some I wold not ete them /
And therfore this fable sheweth that he is wyse /
whiche fayneth not to desyre that thynge the
whiche he may not haue /