barlow042


 

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

 

Barlow 42. DE VULPE ET LUPO

 

ONLINE FORUM: At the Aesopus Ning Forum, you can ask questions about this fable. You will also  find links there to additional learning materials to help you in reading the Latin (vocabulary, grammar commentary, simplified version, quizzes, macrons, etc.).

 

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 well, she saw a wolf passing by along the edge of the well, and  asked him to go buy  a rope and to help her in getting out of such great peril. The wolf said to the fox: Most unfortunate fox, I sympathize with your unfortunate situation. Tell me, please, how did you fall into that well? The fox replied: There's no need for talking round and round. Why don't you just go buy that rope, and then I'll explain the whole thing to you from start to finish.

 

[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:

 

Vir prudens

debet finem explorare,

antequam

ad Rem peragendam veniat;

finis enim

coronat opus.

 

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.

 

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: