The Horse and the Wolf by Jean de La Fontaine

A hungry wolf, seeking food when animals leave their winter shelters, sees a horse grazing and decides that force will not serve him. Pretending to be Doctor Wolf, a healer learned in roots, herbs, and surgery, he tells the horse that running free and feeding in the field prove that it must be ill. The horse claims to have an aposthume beneath its foot. As the wolf approaches to treat it, hoping for a chance to seize his prey, the wary horse kicks him violently in the jaws. Hurt and defeated, the wolf admits that he was wrong to abandon the trade nature made him for: that of a butcher.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Animal Fable, Didactic Literature · 575 words

First lines

A wolf, what time the thawing breeze / Renews the life of plants and trees, / And beasts go forth from winter lair / To seek abroad their various fare, -- / A wolf, I say, about those days, / In sharp look-out for means and ways, / Espied a horse turn'd out to graze. / His joy the reader may opine. / 'Once got,' said he, 'this game were fine; / But if a sheep, 'twere sooner mine. / I can't proceed my usual way; / Some trick must now be put in play. ' / This said, / He came with measured tread, / As if a healer of disease, -- / Some pupil of Hippocrates, -- / And told the horse, with learned verbs, / He knew the power of roots and herbs, -- / Whatever grew about those borders, -- / And not at all to flatter / Himself in such a matter, / Could cure of all disorders. / If he, Sir Horse, would not conceal / The symptoms of his case, / He, Doctor Wolf, would gratis heal; / For that to feed in such a place, / And run about untied, / Was proof itself of some disease, / As all the books decide. / 'I have, good doctor, if you please,' / Replied the horse, 'as I presume, / Beneath my foot, an aposthume. ' / 'My son,' replied the learned leech, / 'That part, as all our authors teach, / Is strikingly susceptible / Of ills which make acceptable / What you may also have from me -- / The aid of skilful surgery; / Which noble art, the fact is, / For horses of the blood I practise. ' / The fellow, with this talk sublime, / Watch'd for a snap the fitting time. / Meanwhile, suspicious of some trick, / The wary patient nearer draws, / And gives his doctor such a kick, / As makes a chowder of his jaws. / Exclaim'd the wolf, in sorry plight, / 'I own those heels have served me right. / I err'd to quit my trade, / As I will not in future; / Me nature surely made / For nothing but a butcher. '[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Cock And The Fox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Cat And The Old Rat by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Wolf Turned Shepherd by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Wolf The Goat And The Kid by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Wolf The Mother And Her Child by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Bat And The Two Weasels by Jean De La Fontaine

Genres

• Fable — The poem is a short animal tale in which a wolf and a horse act with human speech and motives, ending in an explicit moral lesson about acting contrary to one's natural calling.
• Animal Fable — Its principal characters are personified animals whose encounter dramatizes recognizable human traits: the wolf's predatory deceit and the horse's wary self-defense.
• Didactic Literature — The narrative instructs readers through the wolf's punishment and concluding admission that he was wrong to abandon his proper trade.
• Moral Tale — The plot delivers a clear ethical warning against deception, greed, and attempting roles for which one is unsuited.

Tags

French fable · seventeenth-century literature · verse narrative · animal fable · talking animals · wolf · horse · springtime countryside · grazing field · predator and prey · hunger · deception

What this Textopian page supports

The Horse and the Wolf 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, Animal Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Tale, Allegory
• Length: 575 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Horse and the Wolf 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