The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Quartus/Fable 7
¶ The seuenth fable is of the fawkoner and of the byrdes
He wyse ought to kepe and obserue
the good couceyll / And in no
wyse they ought not to doo the
contrarye / As reherceth to vs
this fable / Of the byrdes whiche
were Ioyeful and gladde / as the prymtemps
came / by cause that theyr nestes were thenne al
couerd with leues / And Incontynent they beheld
and sawe a fawkoner whiche dressyd and
leyd laces and nettes for to take them / ¶ And
thenne they sayd al to gyder / Yonder man hath
pyte of vs / For whanne he beholdeth vs he
wepeth / ¶ And thenne the pertryche / whiche
had experymented and assayed all the deceytes
of the sayd Fawkoner / sayd to them / kepe yow
alle wel fro that sayd man and flee hyghe in to
the ayer / For he seketh nothynge / but the
manere for to take yow / or to the markette he
shalle bere yow for to be sold / And they that
byleuyd his couceylle were saued / And they
that byleuyed it not were taken and lost / ¶ And
therfore they whiche byleue good councylle are
delyuerd oute of theyr peryles / And they whiche
byleue it not ben euer in grete daunger