The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Tertius/Fable 11
¶ The xj fable is of the fader and of the euylle sone
He good and wyse fader ought to
chastyse his children in theyr yong
age / and not in theyr old age /
For thenne hit is moche dyffycyle
to make them bowe As to us
reciteth this fable / Of a fader of famylle /
whiche had a sone / the whiche dyd no thynge
that he oughte to haue done / but euer was
goynge and playeng in the toune / And the
fader for the cryme and mysrewle of his sone
brawled euer and bete his meyny / And sayd to
them suche a fable / Of a ploughman or labourer
/ whiche bond a bole by the homes to
an oxe The booll wold not be bound / and
smote strongly whith his feet after the man / and
launched his homes at hym / ¶ And at the last
whan he was bound / the labourer sayd to them
I haue ioyned and bound you bothe to gyder /
to thende that ye doo somme labour / But I wyll
that the left of yow two / that is to wete the
boole / be lerned and corryged of the moste /
whiche is the oxe / For I must sayd the labourer to hym self bynde them thus to gyder / to thende
that the bole / whiche is yong fyen and malycious
and strong / smyte ne hurte nobody /
wherof grete dommage myght come to me / But
by cause that I bote well / that the oxe shalle
teche and corryge hym wel / I haue put and
bound them bothe to gyder / ¶ Thus this fable
sheweth to vs / that the fader ought to teche and
gyue good ensample to his children and chastyse
them whanne they be yong For he that well
loueth / wel he chastyseth