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DE CERVO ET HINNULO

 

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

 

Latin Text:

 

Cervus praegrandi corpore et qui cornua habuit ingentia, per silvas grassabatur. Cui Hinnulus accedens inquit, Mi Pater, pro miraculo mihi est, quod cum sis tam praegrandi corpore et cornua habes tam praeclara, latratus canum exhorrescere. Cui Cervus, Mi fili, magnum habeo, fateor, corpus et cornua comparia, sed sane cor pusillum.

 

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

 

Cervus

praegrandi corpore

et qui cornua habuit ingentia,

per silvas grassabatur.

Cui Hinnulus accedens

inquit, Mi Pater,

pro miraculo mihi est,

quod cum sis

tam praegrandi corpore

et cornua habes tam praeclara,

latratus canum exhorrescere.

Cui Cervus, Mi fili,

magnum habeo, fateor, corpus

et cornua comparia,

sed sane cor pusillum.

Non magno camino

parvulum suffecturum ignem.

Et quod in exiguo corpore,

saepissime magna mens immoratur.

 

Translation: A stag with a great huge body and who had enormous horns, rambled through the woods. A fawn approached him and said, My father, I'm amazed by the fact that you have such a great huge body and excellent horns, but you are terrified by the barking of the hounds. The stag answered him, My son, I do have a big body, I confess, and horns to match, but in fact my heart is puny.

 

[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 351.

 

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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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