Fable of the Day: De Turdo et Hirundine

[Laura Gibbs]

[Note: You can find more of these fables at the old blog address for Latin Via Fables.]

Title: De Turdo amicitiam cum hirundine ineunte: The Thrush Making Friends with the Swallow, by Abstemius


Latin Text:



Gloriabatur turdus se amicitiam contraxisse cum hirundine. Cui mater, "Stultus es, fili, (inquit), si credis cum ea posse convenire, cum uterque vestrum diversa soleat appetere loca. Tu enim frigidis, illa tepidis delectatur locis." Hac monemur fabula ne eos nobis faciamus amicos, quorum vita a nostra dissentit.


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


Gloriabatur turdus
se
amicitiam contraxisse
cum hirundine.
Cui mater,
"Stultus es, fili, (inquit),
si credis
cum ea posse convenire,
cum uterque vestrum
diversa soleat appetere loca.
Tu enim frigidis,
illa tepidis delectatur locis."
Hac monemur fabula
ne eos nobis faciamus amicos,
quorum vita a nostra dissentit.


Crossword Puzzle: There is no crossword puzzle for the fable today since I did another Roman Emperors crossword puzzle instead!

Translation:


The thrush was bragging that he had made friends with a swallow. His mother said to him: "You are a fool, son, if you think that you can get along with her, since each of you has the desire to seek out different places. For you enjoy cold places, while she enjoys warm ones." We are warned by this fable that we should not make our friends those people whose lifestyle differs from our own.



[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.]



Source: Abstemius 27 (You can see a 1499 edition of Abstemius online, but I am doing my transcription from the 1568 edition of Aesopi fabulae in the EEBO catalog.)



Another English translation. Sir Roger L'Estrange included the fables of Abstemius in his amazing 17th-century edition of Aesop's fables, but this is one of the fables he skipped. So, I don't actually know of any other English translation except for the one you see on this page! :-)

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