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Barlow 109. DE LEONE AMATORIO

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Leo Silvani cuiusdam Filiam perdite amavit et Patrem Virginis sollicitabat ut illi Virgo in matrimonium daretur. Respondebat Rusticus Filiam esse tenellam et delicatulam Virginem et nunquam hamatos eius ungues dentesque passuram. Passus est igitur Leo dentes et ungues evelli ut Virgine frueretur. Quod cum vidisset Pater, fustibus illi involabat et longius imbellem abigebat.

Translation: A lion fell madly in love with the daughter of a certain woodsman and implored the young woman's father that she be given to him in marriage. The countryman replied that his daughter was a most tender and delicate girl and that she would never be able to endure the lion's hooked claws and his teeth. The lion therefore suffered the extraction of his teeth and his claws, so that he could gain the girl. When the father saw this, he flew at the lion with clubs and drove the defenseless lion far away.

[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.]

The Moral of the Story:

Indicat

vesaniam inutilis amoris,

propter quem

pretiosissima perdimus

et captivitatem patimur.

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view. For a woodsman and his daughter, these people look very well-dressed (although the horn perhaps indicates that the man is indeed a woodsman). In the foreground you can see the lion being declawed and if you look carefully in the background can see what happens next: the man beats the lion and drives him away. Meanwhile, there is an unidentified woman standing to the right. Could it be the man's wife, the mother of the girl? I wonder what she thinks about all these goings-on.