Page:The fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio. Vol 2.djvu/319

  of fyes mayles / wherwith he wymmed / and only he hadde but the hede oute of the water / ¶ It happed thenne as many wymmen bouked and wehed at the porte or hauen of the ayd Ryuer / that thys horryble and ferdfull beete was / for lacke and defaulte of mete cam & wymmyng toward the ayd wymen / Of the which he toke one by the hand / and uppoed to haue drawe her in to the water / but he was tronge / and wel auyed and reyted agevnte the ayd montre / And as he deffended her elf / he beganne to crye with a hyhe voys / help help / to the whiche came rennynge fyue wymmen / whiche by hurlynge and drawynge of tones kyld and lewe the ayd montre / For he was come to ferre within the onde / wherfore he myght not retorne in the depe water / And after whanne he rendryd his pyryte / he made a ryght lytyl crye / ayenge wo that he was o deormed and oo moche cruel / For he was of grete corpulence more than ony man's body/ And yet ayth Poge in this manere / that he beyng at Ferrare he awe the ayd montre / And aith yet / that the yonge children were cutomed for to go bathe and wahe them within the ayd Ryuer / but they came not all ageyne / wherfore the wymen wehed ne bouked nomore theyr clothes at the aid porte / For the folke preumed and uppoed