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on April 7, 2008 at 10:46:36 am
 

 

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

 

DE FORMICA ET COLUMBA

 

  Visit the Fable Discussion Page to leave your comments and get answers to your questions.

 

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

 

Introduction: This fable provides an illustration of the English saying, "One good turn deserves another." Although you would not think that a dove and an ant are heroic creatures, the dove is able to save the life of the ant, and the ant, in turn, is able to save the dove. The actions of these animals provides a positive model for humans to imitate, as the ancient Greek version of this fable reminds us: "The story shows that even dumb beasts experience fellow feeling and come to one another's aid." If you were to imagine the words of the dove as she flies off to safety, what moral would she give to the story For a fable about a less friendly ant, see the story of the ant and the cicada. For another fable about a fowler, see the story of the fowler and the snake in the grass.

 

Latin Text:

 

Formica, ut sitim sedaret, fonticulum accessit, sed in fonticulum elapsa et paene lymphis absorpta est. Columba, arborem insidens fonticulo contiguam, ramusculum ore direptum in fonticulum deiecit, cuius adminiculo servata Formica evasit. Sed interea affuit Auceps, Columbae insidias tensurus. Formica tibiale gravissime mordebat. Cui cum fricandi gratiam admonebat, percepit id Columba et impune avolavit.

 

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

 

Formica,

ut sitim sedaret,

fonticulum accessit,

sed in fonticulum elapsa

et paene lymphis absorpta est.

Columba,

arborem insidens

fonticulo contiguam,

ramusculum ore direptum

in fonticulum deiecit,

cuius adminiculo servata

Formica evasit.

Sed interea affuit Auceps,

Columbae insidias tensurus.

Formica

tibiale gravissime mordebat.

Cui cum fricandi gratiam admonebat,

percepit id Columba

et impune avolavit.

 

Translation: An ant, in order to slake her thirst, approached a little spring, but she slipped in the spring and had almost been swallowed by the waters. A dove sitting in a tree next to the spring, took a little twig in her mouth and tossed it down into the water, and saved by this assistance, the ant escaped. But meanwhile a bird-catcher had arrived and was about to stretch out his trap for the dove. The ant bit him most painfully on the shin, and when he reached for the bite in order to scratch it, the dove perceived it and flew away safely.

 

[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: For parallel versions, see Perry 235.

 

Related Links: Crossword Puzzle

 

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view. From the look on his face, I would say that the fowler is shown here after the little ant (you can see the ant by his foot) has bitten him, and he is reaching to scratch the bite, thus alerting the bird up in the tree to his presence. Off in the distance there is a bird flying in the sky - perhaps that is a second scene, combined with this one, showing the bird flying to safety.

 

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