HOME | Barlow's Aesop: Previous Page - Next Page

 

DE ANU ET ANCILLIS

 

  Visit the Fable Discussion Page to leave your comments and get answers to your questions.

 

Source: Aesop's Fables, 1687 (illustrated by Francis Barlow).

 

Introduction: This fable has something in common with the English saying, "Out of the frying pan, into the fire." Long before there were alarm clocks, there were roosters who crowed at the crack of dawn, rousing people to do their work. In this fable, you will find out what happens when some of the household maids decide they would rather sleep late in the morning. As usual in Aesop's fables, their plan does not have the results that they expect! If one of the maids were to pronounce the moral of the story at the end, what do you think she would say? For other fables about unexpected outcomes, see the story of the goose that laid the golden egg or the mountains in labor.

 

Latin Text:

 

Anus quaedam domi habebat complures Ancillas, quas quotidie, antequam lucesceret, ad Galli gallinacei, quem domi alebat, cantum excitabat ad opus. Ancillae tandem, quotidiani negotii commotae taedio, Gallum obtruncant, sperantes iam, necato illo, sese in medios dormituras dies. Sed haec spes miseras frustrata est. Hera enim, ut interemptum Gallum rescivit, Ancillas intempesta nocte surgere deinceps iubet.

 

Here is a segmented version to help you see the grammatical patterns:

 

Anus quaedam

domi habebat

complures Ancillas,

quas

quotidie,

antequam lucesceret,

ad Galli gallinacei, quem domi alebat, cantum

excitabat ad opus.

Ancillae tandem,

quotidiani negotii commotae taedio,

Gallum obtruncant,

sperantes iam,

necato illo,

sese

in medios dormituras dies.

Sed haec spes

miseras frustrata est.

Hera enim,

ut interemptum Gallum rescivit,

Ancillas

intempesta nocte surgere

deinceps iubet.

 

Translation: A certain old lady had in her house several maids. Every day, before it was light out, she roused them to work at the song of the rooster whom she kept at the house. Finally the maids, prompted by the weariness of their daily tasks, cut off the rooster's head, hoping that now, with the rooster dead, they would be able to sleep until noon. But this hope deceived the wretched maids. For when their mistress learned the rooster had been killed, she then ordered the maids to wake up in the dead of night.

 

[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.]

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 55.

 

Related Links: Crossword Puzzle

 

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view. The central scene shows the maids about to chop off the rooster's head, with a very realistic-looking axe. The rooster looks none too happy. The household dog is standing by, looking out towards us, the viewers, as if ready to snarl and keep us away. Meanwhile, the old lady herself is peeping out from a window, witnessing the scene. Two scenes, as usual, are depicted here; the foreground shows the rooster just as he is about to be executed, while in the background you can see the rooster in happier days, standing on the fence and crowing at the break of dawn, with the sun beaming in the sky. The old woman's house is equipped with a visible bell, which is presumably the instrument of torment with which she summons the poor maids to their tasks.

 

 

 Create your own educational wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS