The Hare and the Partridge
A hare and a partridge share a field and live peacefully until hunters force the hare to flee. Though he criticizes the pursuing hounds, his heat and scent reveal his hiding place, and the dogs find him at his lair. The partridge mocks him for boasting of his speed and failing to escape. Before her laughter has faded, however, a hawk attacks her; absorbed in jeering at the hare, she had forgotten her own danger.
By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Fiction · 384 words
First lines
Beware how you deride / The exiles from life's sunny side: / To you is little known / How soon their case may be your own. / On this, sage Aesop gives a tale or two, / As in my verses I propose to do. / A field in common share / A partridge and a hare, / And live in peaceful state, / Till, woeful to relate! / The hunters' mingled cry / Compels the hare to fly. / He hurries to his fort, / And spoils almost the sport / By faulting every hound / That yelps upon the ground. / At last his reeking heat / Betrays his snug retreat. / Old Tray, with philosophic nose, / Snuffs carefully, and grows / So certain, that he cries, / 'The hare is here; bow wow! ' / And veteran Ranger now, -- / The dog that never lies, -- / 'The hare is gone,' replies. / Alas! poor, wretched hare, / Back comes he to his lair, / To meet destruction there! / The partridge, void of fear, / Begins her friend to jeer: -- / 'You bragg'd of being fleet; / How serve you, now, your feet? ' / Scarce has she ceased to speak, -- / The laugh yet in her beak, -- / When comes her turn to die, / From which she could not fly. / She thought her wings, indeed, / Enough for every need; / But in her laugh and talk, / Forgot the cruel hawk!
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Genres
- Fable — A brief animal tale in the Aesopic tradition, using speaking and personified animals to convey a clear moral lesson.
- Moral Literature — The poem explicitly warns readers not to mock others in misfortune, since they may soon suffer the same fate.
- Animal Fiction — The central characters are a hare and a partridge whose actions, fears, and speech represent recognizable human behavior.
- Didactic Poetry — La Fontaine's verse is designed to instruct as well as entertain, ending in an implicit ethical judgment about ridicule and overconfidence.
Tags
French fable · verse fable · animal allegory · moral instruction · Aesopian tradition · seventeenth-century literature · rural field · hare · partridge · hunting dogs · hawk · hunters
What this Textopian page supports
The Hare and the Partridge 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, Moral Literature, Animal Fiction, Didactic Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 384 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Hare and the Partridge by Jean de La Fontaine
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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