The Camel and the Floating Sticks

La Fontaine illustrates how familiarity alters fear and judgment. The first person to see a humpbacked camel flees, the next approaches cautiously, and a third boldly binds the animal with a rope. Likewise, a watchman mistakes a distant object on the ocean for a warship; as it comes nearer, it seems successively to be a bomb-ketch, a boat, a bale, and finally floating sticks of wood. The tale observes that many things appear dreadful from afar but lose their terror when seen closely.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Moral Tale · 252 words

First lines

The first who saw the humpback'd camel / Fled off for life; the next approach'd with care; / The third with tyrant rope did boldly dare / The desert wanderer to trammel. / Such is the power of use to change / The face of objects new and strange; / Which grow, by looking at, so tame, / They do not even seem the same. / And since this theme is up for our attention, / A certain watchman I will mention, / Who, seeing something far / Away upon the ocean, / Could not but speak his notion / That 'twas a ship of war. / Some minutes more had past, -- / A bomb-ketch 'twas without a sail, / And then a boat, and then a bale, / And floating sticks of wood at last!

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Earthen Pot And The Iron Pot by Jean De La Fontaine
• Death And The Unfortunate by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Frog That Wished To Be As Big As The Ox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Woodman And Mercury by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Two Bulls And The Frog by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Man And His Image by Jean De La Fontaine

Genres

• Fable — The poem presents brief illustrative incidents involving a camel and a distant object at sea, then explicitly draws a moral about how familiarity diminishes fear and strangeness.
• Didactic Poetry — Its central purpose is instruction: it teaches that unfamiliar things seem frightening at a distance but become ordinary when closely observed.
• Moral Tale — The narrative examples support a clear ethical and practical lesson concerning perception, habit, and irrational fear.
• Allegory — The camel and the supposedly threatening ship function as symbolic examples of all unfamiliar objects that appear more alarming than they truly are.

Tags

fable · verse narrative · moral allegory · Aesopian tradition · fear of the unknown · familiarity · perception and reality · misjudgment · changing appearances · perspective · distant versus near · the camel

What this Textopian page supports

The Camel and the Floating Sticks 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.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Moral Tale, Allegory, Verse Narrative
• Length: 252 words
• Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Camel and the Floating Sticks by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
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More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine