Page:The fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio. Vol 2.djvu/75



En ought wel to loke and behold the courage & thought of hym / whiche dothe good / and the ende / wherfor he dothe hit / wherof Eope reherceth uche a fable / Of a man whiche tooke a weell / the whiche chaced after the rattes wythynne his hows /   ¶ And after whanne he had taken her / he wold haue kylled her /   ¶ And whanne the poure Weelle awe the wrathe and furour of her mayter / he cryed to hym / mercy / ayenge thus / My lord I requyre and praye the / that thow wylt pardonne to me / and that thow wylt reward me of the grete eruye whiche I haue done to the / For euer I haue chaced the rats oute of thy hows / ¶ And the man ayd to her / thow dydet not that for the loue of me / but only thow hat done it for to fylle thy bely   For yf thow haddet done it for the loue of me / I hold haue pardonned to the /   ¶ And by caue that thow dydet not for to erue me / but for to and  me / For that the rattes myght not ete / thou baret it