Caxton's translation (1484)
Of the auncyent wesel and of the rat /
Wytte is better than force or strengthe / As reherceth to vs this fable of an old wesel / the whiche myghte no more take no rats / wherfor she was ofte sore hongry and bethought her that she shold hyde her self withynne the floure for to take the rats whiche came there for to ete hit And as the rats came to the floure / she took and ete them eche one after other / And as the oldest rat of all perceyued & knewe her malyce / he sayd thus in hym self / Certaynly I shalle kepe me wel fro the / For I knowe alle thy malyce & falshede
And therfore he is wyse that scapeth the wytte and malyce of euyll folke / by wytte and not by force
L'Estrange's translation (1692)
AN OLD WEAZLE AND MICE (Perry 511)
An old Weazle that was now almost past mousing, try’d what she could do by her Wits, when she found she could live no longer upon the Square, and so conveys her self into a Meal-Tub for the mice to come to her, since she could not go to them. They came thick and threefold at a time, as she expected they should, till at last one experienced Stager, that had baffled twenty Traps and Tricks before, discover’d the Plot, and quite spoil’d the Jest.
THE MORAL. The want of a Force, Strength, and other Abilities to compass our Ends, must be supply’d by Industry and Invention.
Townsend's translation (1887)
The Weasel and the Mice
A Weasel, inactive from age and infirmities, was not able to catch mice as he once did. He therefore rolled himself in flour and lay down in a dark corner. A Mouse, supposing him to be food, leaped upon him, and was instantly caught and squeezed to death. Another perished in a similar manner, and then a third, and still others after them. A very old Mouse, who had escaped many a trap and snare, observed from a safe distance the trick of his crafty foe and said, "Ah! you that lie there, may you prosper just in the same proportion as you are what you pretend to be!"
