The City Rat and the Country Rat

The City Rat invites the Country Rat to share a fine supper of turtle soup at a table laid on a Turkey carpet. They eat splendidly, but a small knocking sound suddenly frightens them both into fleeing. When the noise stops, the City Rat asks his guest to return and finish the feast. The Country Rat refuses, inviting the City Rat instead to dine with him the next day. Though he cannot offer such luxurious food, he prefers eating peacefully to enjoying rich fare mixed with fear and trembling.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Animal Tale · 265 words

First lines

A city rat, one night, / Did, with a civil stoop, / A country rat invite / To end a turtle soup.

Upon a Turkey carpet / They found the table spread, / And sure I need not harp it / How well the fellows fed.

The entertainment was / A truly noble one; / But some unlucky cause / Disturb'd it when begun.

It was a slight rat-tat, / That put their joys to rout; / Out ran the city rat; / His guest, too, scamper'd out.

• Open reader

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Genres

• Fable — The poem uses talking animals and a concise narrative to convey a clear moral about preferring peaceful simplicity to luxurious but insecure living.
• Didactic Literature — Its central purpose is instructional: the country rat's choice teaches that safety, contentment, and leisure outweigh fearful luxury.
• Animal Tale — Rat characters act and speak like humans, allowing their contrasting lifestyles and values to be dramatized through animal figures.
• Narrative Poetry — The work tells a complete story in rhyming verse, with action, dialogue, setting, and a concluding judgment.

Tags

fable · verse narrative · animal characters · talking rats · city life · rural life · seventeenth-century France · moral lesson · simplicity · luxury · contentment · peace of mind

What this Textopian page supports

The City Rat and the Country Rat 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 Literature, Animal Tale, Narrative Poetry, Verse Fable
• Length: 265 words
• Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The City Rat and the Country Rat 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