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Barlow 36. DE RANIS ET EARUM REGE
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Gens Ranarum supplicabat sibi regem dari. Iupiter deiecit trabem, cuius moles cum ingenti fragore quassabat fluvium. Territae, silebant Ranae. Mox regem venerantur et tandem accedunt propius; omni metu abiecto, iners rex lusui et contemptui est. Lacessunt igitur Iovem rursus, orantes regem sibi dari qui strenuus sit. Iupiter dat Ciconiam, quae, perambulans paludem, quidquid Ranarum obviam fit, vorabat. De cuius tyrannide questae sunt, sed frustra. Nam Iupiter non audit; decrevit enim ut, quae regem clementem sunt deprecatae, iam ferant inclementem.
Translation: The tribe of frogs begged that a king be given to them. Jupiter threw down a log, and when the mass of the log with a giant crash shook the stream, the terrified frogs were silent. They immediately showed reverence to the king, and finally they drew nearer, having put aside all fear, and the motionless king became an object of sport and contempt. Consequently they pester Jupiter once again, asking that a king be given to them who would be more dynamic. Jupiter gave them the stork, who walked around the swamp and gobbled up whatever frogs she ran into. The frogs complained about this tyranny but in vain, for Jupiter did not listen, for he decreed that the frogs who had scorned their merciful king now had to put up with a merciless one.
[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.]
Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.
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