Of whose faynyng fyrst rose the fable.
Concludyng reason gretely profitable;
Who that theyr fables can well moralyse,
The fruytfull sentences are delectable,
Though that the ficcion they doo so devyse
Under the colour the trouth doth aryse,
Concludyng reason, rychesse, and connyng,
Pleasure, example, and also lernyng.
They fayned no fable without reason,
For reasonable is al theyr moralitie,