The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Other Aesop's/Fable 12
¶ The xij fable is of the Bee and of Jupiter
Ow the euyl which men wysshe to
other / cometh to hym whiche
wyssheth hit / as hit appiereth by
this fable / of a Bee whiche offred
and gaf to Jupyter a pyce of hony /
wherof Jupyter was moche Joyous / And thenne
Jupyter sayd to the bee / demaunde of me what
thow wylt / and I shalle graunte and gyue hit to
the gladly / And thenne the Bee prayed hym in
this manere / God almyghty I pray the that thow
wylt gyue to me and graūte / that who so euer
shal come for to take awey my hony / yf I pryke
hym / he may sodenly deye / And by cause that
Jupyter loued the humayn lygnage he sayd to
the Bee / Suffyse the / that who so euer shalle
goo to take thy hony / yf thow pryke or stynge
hym / Incontynent thow shalt deye / And thus
her prayer was tourned to her grete dommage /
For men ought not to demaude of god / but suche
thynges that ben good and honest