The Fox and the Crow
By Phaedrus, adapted from a translation by C. Smart
His folly in repentance ends who to a flattering knave attends.
A Crow, her hanger to appease had from a window stolen some cheese,
And sitting on a lofty pine in state, was just about to dine.
This, when a Fox observed below harangued the foolish Crow:
" Lady, how beauteous to the view whose glossy plumes of sable hue!
Thy features how divinely fair! With what a shape, and what an air!
Could you but frame your voice to sing, you'd have no rival on the wing.”
She, now willing to display her talents in the vocal way,
let go the cheese of luscious taste,
Which Renard seized with greedy haste.
The grudging dupe now sees at last that for her folly she must fast!
Original Latin version
Vulpis et Corvus (Book I - XIII)
Quae se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis, serae dant poenas turpi paenitentia.
Cum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore,
vulpes invidit, deinde sic coepit loqui:
'O qui tuarum, corve, pinnarum est nitor! Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!
Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret'.
At ille, dum etiam vocem vult ostendere, lato ore emisit caseum; quem celeriter
dolosa vulpes avidis rapuit dentibus.
Tum demum ingemuit corvi deceptus stupor.
The first to translate Greek fables into Latin was Phaedrus, a former slave in 15 BC, in Thrace (off the Aegean Sea). He had been sold to Emperor Augustus, who freed the young boy and gave him an education.
His poems with their unique verse were popular during the Middle Ages. Sixty-four were recovered in the 1700s, half of them originals, another thirty were later identified.
Aesop's fables have been shelved in the children's section when the morals were originally written for adults.
I lengthened a few and turned them into dialogues for my ESL classes in China. Students add their own subplots and characters, and analyze the morals.
For more stories and ESL lessons: www.beekeeper.homestead.com
Jean de la Fontaine
La Fontaine (17th century) put many of Aesope's stories to verse under "Fables Choisies". The following poems have been translated to English by the Vidaud family. The Crow and the Fox is my favorite. The Grasshopper and the Ants was originally The Cicada and the Ant.
Le Corbeau et le Renard
Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché,
Tenait en son bec un fromage.
Maître Renard, par l'odeur alléché,
Lui tint à peu près ce langage :
"Hé ! bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau.
Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau !
Sans mentir, si votre ramage
Se rapporte à votre plumage,
Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois."
A ces mots le Corbeau ne se sent pas de joie ;
Et pour montrer sa belle voix,
Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie.
Le Renard s'en saisit, et dit : "Mon bon Monsieur,
Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute. "
Le Corbeau, honteux et confus,
Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.
The Crow and the Fox
Master Crow perched on a tree,
Was holding a cheese in his beak.
Master Fox attracted by the smell
Said something like this:
"Well, Hello Mister Crow!
How beautiful you are! how nice you seem to me!
Really, if your voice
Is like your plumage,
You are the phoenix of all the inhabitants of these woods."
At these words, the Crow is overjoyed.
And in order to show off his beautiful voice,
He opens his beak wide, lets his prey fall
The Fox grabs it, and says: "My good man,
Learn that every flatterer
Lives at the expense of the one who listens to him.
This lesson, without doubt, is well worth a cheese."
The Crow, ashamed and embarrassed (confused)
Swore, but a little late, that he would not be taken again.
La Cigale et la Fourmi
La Cigale, ayant chanté
Tout l'été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue :
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu'à la saison nouvelle.
"Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l'Oût, foi d'animal,
Intérêt et principal. "
La Fourmi n'est pas prêteuse :
C'est là son moindre défaut.
Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
- Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.
- Vous chantiez ? j'en suis fort aise.
Eh bien! dansez maintenant.
The Cicada and the Ant
The Cicada, having sung
All summer long,
Found herself wanting
When the north wind came.
Not a single morsel
Of fly or tiny worm.
She went begging for food
To her neighbour the Ant,
Asking her to lend her
Just a few grains to get by
Until the next season.
"I will pay you back, she said,
Before August, animal's honor,
Interest and principal."
The Ant is no lender:
This is the least of her faults.
"What were you doing during the warm days?
She said to this borrower.
--Night and day no matter what
I was singing, like it or not.
--You were singing? I'm very glad:
Very well, start dancing now."
