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barlow087

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on June 2, 2007 at 4:17:43 pm
 

 

Barlow's Aesop: Previous Page - Next Page (Next of 50)

 

Ursus et duos viatores: Bear and Two Travelers

 



 

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

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 65.

 

Latin Text: Amici duo facto foedere iter inceptantes, Urso obviam dabant. Alter ex amicis trepidus arborem conscendit. Alter autem consternatus humi se mortuum simulabat et spiritum totum compressit. Accedens Ursus et ad faciem os admovens et mortuum credens, abibat, intactum relinquens. Tandem descendebat ex arbore amicus et socium accedens percontatus, quid illi susurraverat Ursus. Cui ille respondit, Monebat me Ursus, ut de falsis et perfidis amicis in posterum caverem.

 

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

 

Amici duo

facto foedere

iter inceptantes,

Urso

obviam dabant.

Alter ex amicis

trepidus

arborem conscendit.

Alter autem

consternatus humi

se mortuum simulabat

et spiritum totum compressit.

Accedens Ursus

et ad faciem

os admovens

et mortuum credens,

abibat,

intactum relinquens.

Tandem

descendebat ex arbore

amicus

et socium accedens

percontatus,

quid illi susurraverat

Ursus.

Cui ille respondit,

Monebat me Ursus,

ut de falsis et perfidis amicis

in posterum

caverem.

 

Translation:

 

Two friends, having made a pact, set out on a journey and ran into a bear. One of the friends was afraid and climbed a tree. The other, however, stretched out on the ground and pretended to be dead, holding his breath. The bear came up and pressed his mouth towards the man's face and, concluding he was dead, went away, leaving him unharmed. Finally the friend got down from the tree, went up to his partner and asked what the bear had whispered to him. He answered, "The bear warned me that in the future I should beware of false and treacherous friends."

 

[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.]

 

This edition of Aesop's fables was published in French, Latin, and English, so here it the English poem that accompanies this fable (I've modernized some of the 17th-century spelling):

 

A Bear approached two Travelers; one fled

To a safe tree, th'other lay still as dead.

The Bear but smelling to his face retired.

The friend descends and laughing thus inquired

What was't he whispered in his ear; quoth he,

He had me shun a treacherous friend like thee.

 

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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