The Animals Sending Tribute to Alexander

The Animals Sending Tribute to Alexander

The fable tells how Fame announces that Alexander, called a son of Jove and a great commander, intends to bring every creature under his power. Alarmed, the animals gather in the desert and decide to send him homage and tribute. They appoint a monkey as ambassador, giving him written instructions lest he talk too much. Since tribute must be paid in cash, a prince with a mine lends them the money. A mule and an ass agree to carry it, aided by a camel and a horse. On the road, the party encounters Lion, who declares himself their fellow traveller. He insists that each animal take a quarter of his own light tribute so that he may remain free to guard them against robbers. None dares refuse him, and Lion is thus able to live at the public expense. When they reach a pleasant meadow surrounded by clear water, Lion suddenly claims to be ill with fever and says he must seek healing herbs. Ordering the others to continue their mission, he demands his money at once. The treasure is laid out before him. Pretending amazement, Lion says that his coins have multiplied and that the newly produced gold must belong to him. He takes nearly all the money, leaving little behind. Terrified and confused, the monkey and his companions continue on and complain to Alexander, but the complaint is useless: even a celestial prince can only meet a lion as lion against lion.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Animal Fable, Allegory · 1,054 words

First lines

A fable flourished with antiquity / Whose meaning I could never clearly see. / Kind reader, draw the moral if you're able: / I give you here the naked fable. / Fame having bruited that a great commander, / A son of Jove, a certain Alexander, / Resolved to leave nought free on this our ball, / Had to his footstool gravely summon'd all / Men, quadrupeds, and nullipeds, together / With all the bird-republics, every feather, -- / The goddess of the hundred mouths, I say, / Thus having spread dismay, / By widely publishing abroad / This mandate of the demigod, / The animals, and all that do obey / Their appetite alone, mistrusted now / That to another sceptre they must bow. / Far in the desert met their various races, / All gathering from their hiding-places. / Discuss'd was many a notion. / At last, it was resolved, on motion, / To pacify the conquering banner, / By sending homage in, and tribute. / With both the homage and its manner / They charged the monkey, as a glib brute; / And, lest the chap should too much chatter, / In black on white they wrote the matter. / Nought but the tribute served to fash, / As that must needs be paid in cash. / A prince, who chanced a mine to own, / At last, obliged them with a loan. / The mule and ass, to bear the treasure, / Their service tender'd, full of pleasure; / And then the caravan was none the worse, / Assisted by the camel and the horse. / Forthwith proceeded all the four / Behind the new ambassador, / And saw, erelong, within a narrow place, / Monseigneur Lion's quite unwelcome face. / 'Well met, and all in time,' said he; / 'Myself your fellow traveller will be. / I wend my tribute by itself to bear; / And though 'tis light, I well might spare / The unaccustom'd load. / Take each a quarter, if you please, / And I will guard you on the road; / More free and at my ease -- / In better plight, you understand, / To fight with any robber band. ' / A lion to refuse, the fact is, / Is not a very usual practice: / So in he comes, for better and for worse; / Whatever he demands is done, / And, spite of Jove's heroic son, / He fattens freely from the public purse. / While wending on their way, / They found a spot one day, / With waters hemm'd, of crystal sheen; / Its carpet, flower-besprinkled green; / Where pastured at their ease / Both flocks of sheep and dainty heifers, / And play'd the cooling breeze -- / The native land of all the zephyrs. / No sooner is the lion there / Than of some sickness he complains. / Says he, 'You on your mission fare. / A fever, with its thirst and pains, / Dries up my blood, and bakes my brains; / And I must search some herb, / Its fatal power to curb. / For you, there is no time to waste; / Pay me my money, and make haste. ' / The treasures were unbound, / And placed upon the ground. / Then, with a look which testified / His royal joy, the lion cried, / 'My coins, good heavens, have multiplied! / And see the young ones of the gold / As big already as the old! / The increase belongs to me, no doubt; ' / And eagerly he took it out! / 'Twas little staid beneath the lid; / The wonder was that any did. / Confounded were the monkey and his suite. / And, dumb with fear, betook them to their way, / And bore complaint to Jove's great son, they say -- / Complaint without a reason meet; / For what could he? Though a celestial scion, / He could but fight, as lion versus lion.

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

French fable · seventeenth-century literature · verse narrative · animal allegory · Alexander the Great · classical antiquity · desert gathering · animal kingdom · tribute and homage · political satire · tyranny · abuse of power

What this Textopian page supports

The Animals Sending Tribute to Alexander is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

More by Jean de La Fontaine