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Barlow 8. DE VULPE IN PUTEO

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Vulpes et Caper sitibundi in quendam puteum descendebant. In quo cum perbibissent, Vulpes dixit circumspicienti reditum Capro, “Bono animo esto, Caper! Excogitavi etenim quo pacto uterque reduces simus.” Obtemperavit consilio Caper, et Vulpes, ex puteo prosiliens, prae gaudio in margine cursitabat. Ceterum, cum ab Hirco ut foedifraga incusaretur, respondit, “Enimvero, Hirce, si tantum tibi sensus esset in mente, quantum est saetarum in mento, non prius in puteum descendisses, quam de reditu exploravisses.”

Translation: The fox and the goat were thirsty and went down into a well. After they had drunk their fill down in the well, the fox said to the goat, who was looking around for a way out: Cheer up, Goat! For I have invented a way that we can both get out. The goat agreed to this plan, and the fox leaped out of the well [by standing on the goat's horns] and joyfully ran around the edge of the well. But when the goat accused the fox of breaking their pact, the fox replied: Well, Billy-Goat, if the brains in your head were as abundant as the bristles on your chin, you would not get down into a well before you had a plan for how to get out.

[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 fox and the goat; see Perry 9. The English poem, however, is the story of the fox in the well and the wolf, which is similar to Perry 211, although the fable cited by Pery is about a boy and a man, not about a fox and a wolf, as in the poem here. The illustration on this page matches the English poem, not the Latin story. For the Latin text that matches the English poem, see Barlow 42.

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 is actually the illustration printed for Fable 60.

Here is an illustration from this edition for the story of the fox and the wolf; click on the image for a larger view. This is the illustration printed with the story on this page. It matches the English poem on this page; for the Latin story that goes with this poem, see Barlow 42.