The Minor Poems of John Lydgate :: :: University of Virginia Library

Who þat cast hym deceue hys felaw,
Shall of deceyte receue þe guerdon.
Salary to feynyng ys simulacion.
Who by dyssimelyng & fraude doþ procede,
Lyke a defrauder receue shall hys mede.

53

Som reioyse þeym in malyce & in fraude
And couertely to hynder þeyr neyghbors.
As men deserue, reporte yeueþ theym þeyr lawde.
Cloþe falsly wouen may kepe no fresshe colours.
The dorre on donghyll, þe bee on holsom floures,
As þey receue, þey bryng home to theyr heue:
The oon doþe damage, þe oþer doþ releue.

54

Aftyr þeyr naturall disposicions
In man & beste ys shewyd experyence:
Som haue to vertew þeyr inclinacions,
Oone to profyte, anoþer to do offence;
Som man pesyble, som man doþ violence;
Som man delyteþ in trouþe in hys entent,
Anoþer reioyseþ to be fraudulent.

55

Who þat meneþ treson or falsnes
With a pretence outward or frenshyp or frendlyhede,
Face counterfete of feynyd fals gladnes,
Of all enemyes suche oon ys most to drede,
And Isopus to purpos, as I rede,
Telleþ how a ffrosshe felle & contraryouse,
Dowble of entent, deceuyd haþe þe movse.

56

Of þys fable þe processe for to tell,
The frosshe of custom abode at a ryuer;
The mowse also soiornyd at a myll,
That stood besyde from all dangere;
And a morow, when Phebus shone full clere,

580

So as þe frosshe passyd þerbesyde,
The mowse besought hym goodly to abyde.

57

Lad hym vp to þe myll alofte,
Shewyd hym the hoper, þe trowgh & þe myll stone,
On a corne sak made hym syt softe,
Seyde, he shuld to dyner go anone,
Leyde afore hym greynes many oone:
To shewe hym of gentylnes gret fauourure
The second course he brought in mele & floure.

58

“See,” quoth þe mowse, “þys ys a mery lyfe.
Here ys my lordshyp & dominacion.
I lyue here esyly out of noyse & stryfe.
Thys cloos all hoole ys in my subieccion.
Suffisaunce ys my possessione.
As I haue appetyte, I dyne late or sone;
For Gyb, þe catte, haþe here noþyng to done.

59

“As mesemeþ, I am here ryght well easyd.
Better ys quyete, þen troble with ryches.
A poreman, þat ys with lytyll plesyd,
Laboreþ truly, meneþ no falsenes
And ys sequestryd fro worldly besynes,
He may at nyght by many sondry preues
Meryly slepe for any fere of theues.

60

“Blessyd be pouerte, þat causeþ assurance,
Namely when gladnes doþ hys brydyll lede.
What God sendeþ, hit ys to þeyr plesance,
Thankeþ þe lorde, grogeþ for no nede.
As he fyndeþ, þeron he doþ hym fede.
Thus am I content here in my householde
As well as Cresus was with all hys golde.

581

61

“Tresour of Mygdas medelyd was with drede,
Broke slepes, reft hym hys libertees.
The pore man slepeþ fearelese, takeþ noon hede,
Who ryde or go: hys gatis opyn bee.
And I suppose, noman ys more free
Nor more assuryd, to myne opynyon,
Then glad pouert with small possession.

62

“Salomon wryteþ, howe hit ys bet by halfe
A lompe of brede with reioysyng,
Then at festis to haue a rostyd calfe
With heuy chere, frownyng or grogyng.
Nature ys content with full lytell þyng.
As men seyen & reporte, at þe leste,
Nat many deyntees, but good chere makeþ a feste.

63

“Where a tyraunt haþ power noon nor myght,
Ys sewre abydyng vnto þe porayll.
Diogenes was with hys towne as lyght,
As Alysaundre with all hys apparayll.
Thys lytyll mylle fynt me my vytayll:
I haue þerin as gret lust and ioy,
As kyng Priamus had in hys towne of Troy.

64

“The poreman mery in hys cotage,
As ys þe merchaunt in hys stuffyd house;
The plowman glad with bacon & potage,
As in þeyr paleyse byn prynces gloriouse.
And, þough þat I be but a lytell movse,
Ther ys no lorde, mo castelles haþ to kepe,
Then I haue hernes & hooles in to crepe.

65

“Abyde with me all nyght in þys mylle,
That we togedyr may haue our dalyaunce.

582

Of greyn & mele þou shalt haue þy fylle.
When frendis mete, ys ioy & plesaunce.
At eue at soper we shall haue a petaunce,
And, when Aurora to-morow doþ apere,
Or we departe, we shall dyne in fere.”

66

The ffrosshe answeryd & gan hys tale telle:
“I haue had here plente of vytayll,
Of fresshe lycour þys ys a baren mylle.
I prayse no feeste, where good drynke doþ fayll,
And what ys worþe all þe apparayll
Of diuerse deyntees to a mannys lust,
When aftyr mete men gon awey a thrust?

67

“Good drynke at festes makeþ all þe chere,
Well sesenyd mete, of good drynke habundance.
Here fast[e] by ys a brode ryuere,
Whyche of fresshe watyr haþ all suffisaunce.
Bacus, Thetis be causers of plesaunce,

Bacus god of wyne, Thetis god of water.

And, to discure þe sentence of my þought,
Where þey two fayle, I sey, þe fest ys nought.”

68

They passyd forþe by a grene mede:
The syluer dew toward þe mornyng
Haþe of þe mowse soylyd so þe wede,
That he haþ lost hys power of rennyng.
Thus were þese wormes contrary of lyuyng:
The frosshe delyteþ to abyde in mory lakys,
The mowse to fede hym on chese & tendyr cakys.

69

The mowse was wery with þe frosshe to abyde,
But þe frosshe with a false feynyd chere

583

Seyþe to þe mowse: “Yende on þe oþer syde
Ys myne abydyng vppon þe water clere.
Lat vs go swymme ouer þe ryuere,
And, lyke as I haue vnto þe tolde,
Thow shalt abyde & see þere my householde.”

70

The mowse answeryd quakyng in hys drede:
“I haue of swymmyng noon experience.”
“No,” quoth þe frosshe, “I shall tey a threde
About þy nek by gret diligence,
The other ende shall for þy defence
At my leg sore be knyt behynde
Ouer þe broke passage for to fynde.”

71

Thus gan þe ffrosshe couertly to feyne
Of false fraude þe lytell mowse to drowne.
The frosshe by swymmyng dyd hys besy peyne
To make þe mowse lowe to plonge downe.
Forþe goþ þe frosshe, þe mowse for fere gan sowne,
And in þys whyle a kyte, or þey toke hede,
Raught hem boþe vp hangyng by þe þrede.

72

Fatte was þe ffrosshe, þe mowse sklender & lene;
The frosshe deuouryd because of hys fatnes.
The threde to-brake, þe mowse fell on þe grene,
Fro deþe escapyd: þe frosshe for hys falsnes
Gwerdon receueþ of vnkyndenes.
For conclusion clerk[is] put in mynde,
Lawe & nature pleynyn on folke vnkynde.

Conclusio.

73

Of vyces all, shortly to conclude,
Ther ys no vyce in comparyson
To þe vyce of ingratitude;

584

For hit ys worse þen pestylence or poyson,
More to be drad, me semeþ, of reson:
Preseruatyf made for pestylence,
But agayn fraude may be no defence.

74

In þys fable for an exemplary,
For þe party of pure innocence,
The mowse ys but sympyll, nat contrary,
Where þe frosshe by fraude & violence
Vnder colour of frendly dylygence
Was euer besy hys felow to encloy:
The cause out sought hit dyd hymsylf dystroy.

75

To a deceyuour by ryght, as hit ys founde,
Kynde requyreþ in folkis fraudulent,
Where fraud ys vsyd, fraude mot rebounde,
Gwerdon for fraude most conuenient;
For whyche Isopus in hys fynall entent
Thys fable wrote full soþly in hys wyt:
Who useþ fraude, with fraude shalbe quyt.

Explicit.