The Rat Retired from the World

Name: The Rat Retired from the World
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

A rat, weary of worldly cares, withdraws into a Holland cheese, where he makes a spacious private dwelling by gnawing within it. Living entirely on his refuge, he secures both a house and ample food, grows fat and contented, and regards his prosperity as a divine blessing upon retirement from the world. When delegates from the Rat-United-States come to ask him for a small amount of food to aid their suffering republic during a great cat-war, the rat refuses them. Though they need only enough support for three or four days and carry no provisions, he declares himself dead to worldly concerns and says he can do nothing but pray for their safety. He then shuts his door in their faces. The speaker uses this selfish, well-fed recluse not to portray a monk, but a dervise, adding that even a fat monk should be more generous.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Satire, Allegory · 473 words

First lines

The sage Levantines have a tale / About a rat that weary grew / Of all the cares which life assail, / And to a Holland cheese withdrew. / His solitude was there profound, / Extending through his world so round. / Our hermit lived on that within; / And soon his industry had been / With claws and teeth so good, / That in his novel hermitage, / He had in store, for wants of age, / Both house and livelihood. / What more could any rat desire? / He grew fair, fat, and round. / 'God's blessings thus redound / To those who in His vows retire. '[1] / One day this personage devout, / Whose kindness none might doubt, / Was ask'd, by certain delegates / That came from Rat-United-States, / For some small aid, for they / To foreign parts were on their way, / For succour in the great cat-war. / Ratopolis beleaguer'd sore, / Their whole republic drain'd and poor, / No morsel in their scrips they bore. / Slight boon they craved, of succour sure / In days at utmost three or four. / 'My friends,' the hermit said, / 'To worldly things I'm dead. / How can a poor recluse / To such a mission be of use? / What can he do but pray / That God will aid it on its way? / And so, my friends, it is my prayer / That God will have you in his care. ' / His well-fed saintship said no more, / But in their faces shut the door. / What think you, reader, is the service / For which I use this niggard rat? / To paint a monk? No, but a dervise. / A monk, I think, however fat, / Must be more bountiful than that.

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Genres

Fable — The poem uses talking animals, a compact allegorical plot, and a pointed moral lesson condemning selfish withdrawal from communal duty.
Satire — It satirizes hypocritical religious seclusion through the well-fed rat who professes devotion while refusing urgently needed aid.
Allegory — The rat, the besieged rat republic, and the cat-war represent human social, political, and religious behavior rather than merely animal events.
Moral Poetry — Its central purpose is ethical instruction: genuine piety and virtue require generosity, not self-protective isolation.

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The Rat Retired from the World is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Satire, Allegory, Moral Poetry, Animal Fiction
Length: 473 words
Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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