The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg

Name: The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

In an address to Iris, the speaker praises her preference for wit, science, and light fancies over flattery, then defends the presence of philosophy in fables. He challenges the doctrine that beasts are mere machines without sensation, thought, or soul, moved only by external forces like the workings of a watch. Animals’ actions, he argues, display planning, memory, courage, and intelligence: a hunted stag confuses its trail and substitutes a fresher companion; a partridge feigns injury to draw danger away from her young; beavers build dams, houses, and bridges with collective skill surpassing that of many men; and fox-like creatures wage hereditary wars using guards, scouts, spies, ambushes, and military stratagems. The speaker grants that animals may not possess the same spiritual nature as human beings, but insists they have more than blind mechanical instinct. He distinguishes human beings by an independent mind whose connection with the body remains mysterious, while maintaining that beasts occupy a rank above plants. As decisive evidence, he tells of two rats who discover an egg and prepare to carry it off. When Sir Pullet Fox appears, they cannot easily drag, roll, or carry their prize. Necessity gives them an invention: one rat grasps the egg and lies on his back, while the other pulls him away by the tail, saving both their plunder and themselves. The speaker asks how anyone can deny that beasts possess the power to think. He concludes that animals should be granted a simple faculty of thought, comparable to that of human infants: the ability to feel and choose, though not to reason as humans do. Humanity, by contrast, would possess a double endowment: the animal soul shared by all living creatures and a higher soul akin to the angels, whose rational light develops as the body’s organs grow stronger.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Philosophical Poetry, Didactic Literature · 3,670 words

First lines

Address to Madame de la Sablière.[1]

[1]: _Madame de la Sablière_. -- See the following note; also the Translator's Preface.

Open reader

What this Textopian page supports

The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg 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, Philosophical Poetry, Didactic Literature, Verse Narrative, Animal Literature
Length: 3,670 words
Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

Good citation fit

Work identity for The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg 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
Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

Similar titles

Genres

Fable — The work uses animals as central characters in an exemplary narrative, especially the rats' cooperative escape with the egg, to argue a moral and intellectual point about animal thought.
Philosophical Poetry — Much of the poem directly examines philosophical questions concerning instinct, consciousness, reason, soul, matter, and Descartes's theory that animals are machines.
Didactic Literature — The verse is designed to instruct readers through examples drawn from animal behavior and through explicit arguments about the capacities shared by humans and beasts.
Verse Narrative — The text is written in rhymed verse and contains narrated episodes, including the hunted stag, the protective partridge, industrious beavers, warring animals, and the two rats.