Page:The fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio. Vol 2.djvu/161

  theayd Serpent ayd / ¶ Ha my frend / goot thow / And the labourer anwerd to hym / I goo ere and plowe my ground / And the Serpent ayd to hym / owe not to moche / For this yere halle be and grete habondaunce of waters halle falle / But byleue not to hym / to whome thow hat omtyme done euylle / And withoute ony wordes the labourer wente forthe on his waye / and byleued not the erpent / but made alle his ground to be cultyued and ered / and owed as moche corne as he myghte / In that ame yere felle grete habondaunce of water / the ayd labourer had but lytyl of his corne / For the moote parte of the corne that he had owen peryhed that ame yere by caue of the grete rayne that felle that ame yere / ¶ And the next yere after folowynge / as this labourer before the or dwellynge place of the ayd Serpent and went for to owe his ground / the Serpent thenne of hym / My Frend whyther goot thow / ¶ And the labourer anwerd / I goo for to owe my ground wyth corn and With other g[r]aynes uche as I hope that halle ben neceary for me in tyme comynge / And thēne the Serpent aide to hym / My frend owe but lytyl corne / For the Somer next comynge halle be oo grete and oo hote / that by the dryenes and