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Barlow 69. DE NUTRICE ET LUPO

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Nutrix minatur puerum plorantem: ni taceat, se Lupo illum tradituram. Lupus praeteriens id forte audit et spe praedae manet ad fores. Puer tandem, obrepente somno, silescit. Regreditur Lupus in silvas, ieiunus et inanis. Lupa obviam illi habens sciscitatur ubi sit praeda. Cui gemebundus Lupus: “Verba (inquit) mihi data sunt. Puerum plorantem abiicere Nutrix minabatur, sed fefellit.”

Translation: A nanny threatened her crying boy that, unless he was quiet, she was going to hand him over to the wolf. A wolf passing by happened to hear this and, in hopes of these spoils, he waited by the door. Sleep finally overcame the boy and he quieted down. The wolf went back into the woods, hungry and empty-handed. The she-wolf ran into him and asked where the spoils were. The wolf sighed and said, "I was fooled: the nanny threatened to throw out the boy because he was crying, but she tricked me."

[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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