The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass

The fable argues that virtues rarely appear together in one being, while vices readily unite. Dogs may be faithful, but they can also be foolish and greedy. Two mastiffs see a dead ass floating far away on broad water and, as the wind carries it farther from shore, wonder what kind of animal it is. One dog says its exact kind matters little if they can obtain a flitch of meat. Believing the carcass to be lawful prey, they decide to drink up the water rather than swim against the wind. They drink greedily, imagining that once the flood is swallowed the ass will lie high and dry and provide food for a week. Their thirst is quenched before their appetite, and they burst. The dogs represent human beings, who often undertake desires and ambitions beyond their powers. People make countless vows and exert themselves for fortune, glory, wealth, learning, or other aims, yet may choose tasks as impossible as drinking the sea. A single person’s projects would require four bodies to accomplish, and even four lives as long as Methuselah’s would not satisfy one person’s wants.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Moral Tale, Animal Fable · 675 words

First lines

The Virtues should be sisters, hand in hand, / Since banded brothers all the Vices stand: / When one of these our hearts attacks, / All come in file; there only lacks, / From out the cluster, here and there, / A mate of some antagonizing pair, / That can't agree the common roof to share. / But all the Virtues, as a sisterhood, / Have scarcely ever in one subject stood. / We find one brave, but passionate; / Another prudent, but ingrate. / Of beasts, the dog may claim to be / The pattern of fidelity; / But, for our teaching little wiser, / He's both a fool and gormandiser. / For proof, I cite two mastiffs, that espied / A dead ass floating on a water wide. / The distance growing more and more, / Because the wind the carcass bore, -- / 'My friend,' said one, 'your eyes are best; / Pray let them on the water rest: / What thing is that I seem to see? / An ox, or horse? what can it be? ' / 'Hey! ' cried his mate; 'what matter which, / Provided we could get a flitch? / It doubtless is our lawful prey: / The puzzle is to find some way / To get the prize; for wide the space / To swim, with wind against your face.[1] / Let's drink the flood; our thirsty throats / Will gain the end as well as boats. / The water swallow'd, by and bye / We'll have the carcass, high and dry -- / Enough to last a week, at least. ' / Both drank as some do at a feast; / Their breath was quench'd before their thirst, / And presently the creatures burst!

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Monkey And The Cat by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Horse And The Wolf by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Man And The Adder by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Cat The Weasel And The Young Rabbit by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Curate And The Corpse by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Frog That Wished To Be As Big As The Ox by Jean De La Fontaine

Genres

• Fable — The poem uses talking animals in a brief illustrative narrative and ends by explicitly applying their fatal folly to human ambition.
• Moral Tale — Its central purpose is didactic: it condemns greed, excessive appetite, and unrealistic projects that exceed human capacity.
• Animal Fable — Two mastiffs act as the principal characters, and their foolish scheme to reach a floating carcass embodies human weaknesses.
• Satire — La Fontaine humorously mocks human vanity, acquisitiveness, and overreaching by comparing people to dogs that try to drink an entire river.

Tags

French fable · verse narrative · moral allegory · seventeenth-century literature · talking animals · mastiffs · dead ass · water and flood · greed · gluttony · folly · impossible ambition

What this Textopian page supports

The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 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: 1678 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Moral Tale, Animal Fable, Satire, Allegory
• Length: 675 words
• Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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• Work identity for The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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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