Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks
‹Better GutenbergThe Fables of La FontaineXVII — The Dog That Dropped the Substance for the Shadow · 126 of 249Contents›

The Fables of La Fontaine

by Jean de La Fontaine

126 of 249 · Contents · Download EPUB

XVII The Dog That Dropped the Substance for the Shadow21

    This world is full of shadow-chasers,
      Most easily deceived.
    Should I enumerate these racers,
      I should not be believed.
    I send them all to Aesop’s dog,
    Which, crossing water on a log,
    Espied the meat he bore, below;
    To seize its image, let it go;
  Plunged in; to reach the shore was glad,
With neither what he hoped, nor what he’d had.

[21] Aesop; also Phaedrus, I. 4.

← Back to The Fables of La Fontaine

Scroll to Top