The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quartus/Fable 4
¶ The fourth fable is of Iuno the godesse and of the pecok and of the nyghtyngale
Very one oughte to be content of
kynde / and of suche good as god
hath sente vnto hym / wherof he
must vse lustly / As reherceth
this fable of a pecok whiche came
to Iuno the goddesse / and sayd to her I am
heuy and sorowful / by cause I can not synge
as wel as the nyghtyngale For euery one
mocketh and scorneth me / by cause I can not
synge / And Iuno would comforte hym and
sayd / thy fayre forme and beaute is fayrer and
more worthy and of gretter preysynge than the
songe of the nyghtyngale / For thy fethers and
thy colour ben resplendysshyng as the precious
Emerawd And theyr is no byrde lyke to thy
fethers ne to thy beaute[errata 1] / ¶ And the pecok
sayd thenne to Iuno / All this is nought / syth
I can not synge / And thenne Iuno sayd ageyne
thus to the pecok for to contente hym / This is
in the desposycion of the goddes / whiche haue
gyuen to eyther of yow one propyrte / and one
vertue / suche as it pleasyd them / As to the they haue gyuen fayr fygure / to the egle haue
they gyuen strengthe / and to the nyghtyngale
fayr & playsaūt songe / And so to all other
byrdes / wherfore euery one must be content
of that that he hath For the myserable auarycious
/ the more goodes that they haue the more
they desyre to haue