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

 

DE VULPE ET LUPO

 

  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: In the ancient Greek collections of Aesop's fables, there is a story about a boy who goes swimming a river but gets swept away by the current and is about to drown. He sees a man walking along the bank of the river and calls out for help, but instead of helping him, the man gives him a lecture on how dangerous river currents can be. This Latin version of this fable is very similar to that story, but in this version, instead of human beings, you will find two animal characters: a fox who has fallen into a well, and a wolf who happens to be passing by. For another story of the fox in the well, see the story of the fox and the goat. For another story about empty words instead of action, see the story of the wolf and the crying baby.

 

Latin Text:

 

Vulpes, cum in puteum fortuito incidisset, Lupum in ripa praetereuntem vidit rogavitque ut funem sibi compararet opemque daret ad se ipsam a tanto periculo extrahendam. Cui Lupus: "Miserrima Vulpes, condoleo tuum infortunium. Dic, precor: quomodo in hunc puteum incidisti?" Respondebat Vulpes, "Non opus est ambagibus. Quin tu funem comparato, et deinde omnia tibi in ordine expediam."

 

 

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

 

Vulpes,

cum in puteum fortuito incidisset,

Lupum

in ripa praetereuntem

vidit

rogavitque

ut funem sibi compararet

opemque daret

ad se ipsam a tanto periculo extrahendam.

Cui Lupus:

"Miserrima Vulpes,

condoleo tuum infortunium.

Dic, precor:

quomodo in hunc puteum incidisti?"

Respondebat Vulpes,

"Non opus est ambagibus.

Quin tu funem comparato,

et deinde

omnia tibi in ordine expediam."

 

Translation: When the fox by accident fell into a pit, he saw a wolf passing by along the edge of the pit, and he asked the wolf to go buy him a rope and to give him assistance in getting out of such great danger. The wolf said to the fox: Most unfortunate fox, I sympathize in your bad luck. Tell me, please, how you fell into that pit? The fox replied: "There's no need for talking in circles. Why don't you just go buy that rope, and then I'll explain everything to you exactly how it happened."

 

[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: The Latin story on this page is the story of the wolf and the fox in the well, which has some similarities to Perry 211, although the fable in Perry is about a boy and a man, not about a fox and a wolf. The illustration and the English poem on this page appear to be a variation on Perry 568, the story of the fox who betrays the wolf to the shepherd. I have not reproduced the English poem and illustration here since they have no matching Latin text, but you can see the poem and image at the Aesop 42 page at the aesopica.net website.

 

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. Note that this image actually is printed with Fable 8, which is where the text of the English poem is also found that matches the Latin story on this page:

 

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