Caxton's translation (1484)
Of the wulf and of the kydde
Good children ought to obserue and kepe euer the commaundements of theyr good parentes and frendes / wherof Esope reciteth to vs suche a fable / Of a gote whiche had made her yonge kydde / and honger toke her soo that she wold haue gone to the feldes for to ete some grasse / wherfore she sayd to her kyd / My child / beware wel / that yf the wulf come hyder to ete the / that thow opene not the dore to hym / And whanne the gote was gone to the feldes / came the wulf to the dore / And faynynge the gotes voyce sayd to the kydde / My child opene to me the dore / And thenne the kydde ansuerd to hym / goo hens euylle and fals beste / For well I see the thurgh that hole / but for to haue me thow faynest the voyce of my moder / And therfore I shalle kepe me well fro openynge of ony dore of this hows /
And thus the good children ought euer to kepe wel / and put in theyr hert & memory the doctryne and the techyng of theyr parentes / For many one is vndone and lost for faulte of obedyence
L'Estrange's translation (1692)
A WOLF, KID, AND GOAT
A Goat that was going out on one Morning for a Mouthful of fresh Grass, charg’d her Kid upon her Blessing, not to open the Door, till she came back, to any Creature that had not a Beard. The Goat was no sooner out of sight, but up comes a Wolf to the Door, that had over-heard the Charge, and in a small Pipe calls to the Kid to let her Mother come in. The Kid smelt out the Roguery, and bad the Wolf show his Beard, and the Door should be open to him.
THE MORAL. There never was an Hypocrite so disguis’d but he had some Mark or other yet to be known by.
