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Barlow 6. DE ALAUDA ET PULLIS EIUS

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Alauda positos in segete Pullos monet ut, dum ipsa abest, diligenter attendant praetereuntium sermones de messe. Redit a pastu Mater. Pulli anxii narrant Dominum agri operam illam mandasse Vicinis. Respondet nihil esse periculi. Item, alio die, trepidi aiunt rogatos ad metendum esse Amicos. Iubet iterum illa ut sint securi. Tertio, ut audivit ipsum Dominum cum Filio statuisse postremo mane cum falce messem intrare, “Iam (inquit) est tempus ut fugiamus. Dominum enim agri timeo, quia probe scio quod illi res cordi est.”  

Translation: A lark, who had deposited her chicks in the standing field of wheat, warned them to carefully pay attention while she was away to anything the passers by said about the harvest. The mother came back from the pasture and the worried chicks told her that the owner of the field had assigned the work of the harvest to his neighbors. The mother replied that there was no danger here. Then, the next day, the worried chicks said that the man's friends had been asked to come do the reaping. Again the mother ordered them to be calm. On the third day when she heard that the master himself had agreed with his son to come the next day with a sickle to begin the harvest. Now, she said, it is time for us to flee. I fear the owner of the field, because I know full well that this is a matter near and dear to his heart.

[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]

The Moral of the Story:

Quisque

quoad potest

animum ad id advertat

quod

suae parti et causae

putat

potissimum prodesse;

si quid

recte curatum velis,

alteri ne mandes,

sed cures ipse.

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.