The Council Held by the Rats

Name: The Council Held by the Rats
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

Old Rodilard, a cat feared by the rats as if he were a devil, has killed so many of them that the survivors scarcely dare leave their holes or eat enough. When Rodilard goes out to meet his wife, the remaining rats hold a council to decide how to avoid him. Their prudent dean proposes hanging a bell on the cat, so that its sound will warn the rats whenever he comes near and allow them to hide safely underground. All the rats praise the proposal and agree that no better plan could be devised. Yet when the question arises of who will actually attach the bell, each rat refuses, declaring that he is not foolish enough to undertake the danger. The council therefore ends without accomplishing anything. The fable compares this failure to councils and chapters whose wise resolutions come to nothing, since people who can argue and advise are plentiful, while someone willing to carry out a difficult plan is much harder to find.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Tale · 563 words

First lines

Old Rodilard,[1] a certain cat, / Such havoc of the rats had made, / 'Twas difficult to find a rat / With nature's debt unpaid. / The few that did remain, / To leave their holes afraid, / From usual food abstain, / Not eating half their fill. / And wonder no one will / That one who made of rats his revel, / With rats pass'd not for cat, but devil. / Now, on a day, this dread rat-eater, / Who had a wife, went out to meet her; / And while he held his caterwauling, / The unkill'd rats, their chapter calling, / Discuss'd the point, in grave debate, / How they might shun impending fate. / Their dean, a prudent rat, / Thought best, and better soon than late, / To bell the fatal cat; / That, when he took his hunting round, / The rats, well caution'd by the sound, / Might hide in safety under ground; / Indeed he knew no other means. / And all the rest / At once confess'd / Their minds were with the dean's. / No better plan, they all believed, / Could possibly have been conceived, / No doubt the thing would work right well, / If any one would hang the bell. / But, one by one, said every rat, / 'I'm not so big a fool as that. ' / The plan, knock'd up in this respect, / The council closed without effect.

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The Council Held by the Rats is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Tale, Satire, Allegory
Length: 563 words
Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Fable — The poem uses speaking animals, a simple illustrative plot, and an explicit moral contrasting easy advice with difficult action.
Moral Literature — Its central purpose is didactic: it teaches that proposing wise solutions is easier than undertaking the risks required to carry them out.
Animal Tale — Rats and a cat serve as anthropomorphic characters whose conflict and council imitate human social behavior.
Satire — La Fontaine satirizes councils, chapters, and advisers who reach impressive resolutions but fail to act on them.