Vulpe vocante venit spēratque cicōnia cēnam:
fallit avem liquidus vulpe iocante cibus.
Cum bibat ista cibōs, sōlum bibit illa dolōrem:
hic dolor in vulpem fabricat arma dolī.
Sunt paucī mora pauca diēs; avis inquit: “Habēmus 5
fercula quae sapiunt: dulcis amīca, venī.”
Haec venit; haec vāse vitreō bona fercula condit,
at sōlam recipit fōrmula vāsis avem.
Laudat opēs oculō vāsis nitor; hās negat orī
fōrmula: sīc geminat vīsus odorque famem. 10
Sīc vulpēs iēiūna redit, sīc fallitur audēns
fallēre, sīc tēlō laeditur ipsa suō.
Quod tibi nōn facerēs aliī fēcisse cavētō.
Vulnera nē faciās quae potes ipse patī.
notes
The Fox and the Stork
A fox invites a stork over for a meal, but as a prank she only serves soup in a dish, so the stork is unable to eat it. The stork in turn invites the fox over, but serves food at the bottom of a glass jar, so that the fox is unable to reach the food.
Other versions: Perry 426.
1 vulpe vocante: ablative absolute.
2 liquidus ... cibus: soup served in a shallow dish, as Phaedrus makes clear (1.26.4-5 liquidam in patulo marmore posuisse / sorbitionem).
2 vulpe iocante: “the fox playing a joke,” ablative absolute.
3 ista … illa: vulpēs ... cicōnia.
3 bibit dolōrem: “she drinks grief,” because she is unable to drink with her long beak.
4 in vulpem: “against the fox.”
4 arma dolī: = dolum.
5 mora pauca: predicate nominative.
6 fercula: "dishes" of food, "courses."
7 Haec … haec: vulpēs ... cicōnia.
7 condit: "hides," "encloses," LS condo II.B.4.
9 vāsis nitor: “the shine of the vessel," i.e., its brilliant transparency.
9 oculō: dative after laudat.
9 hās: opēs.
9 orī: “to the mouth,” dat. of disadvantage.
11 quod tibi nōn faceres: "(that) which you would not do to yourself," impf. subj. in a relative clause of characteristic.
11 fēcisse: = facere.
11 cavētō: = nolī, “make sure you do not," + infin., LS caveo I.D.3. The solemn future imperative form is often used for general directions serving for all time, as precepts, or in statutes (AG 449.2).
vocabulary
vulpes –is f.: a fox
ciconia –ae f.: a stork
cena –ae f.: dinner
liquidus –a –um: liquid
ioco –are –avi –atus: to (play a) joke
bibo –ere bibi –– : to drink
fabrico –are –avi –atus: to make, construct, invent
dolum -ī n.: a trick
paucus –a –um: little
ferculum –i n.: food
sapio –ere –ivi –– : to be tasty, to taste good
vas vasis n.: a vessel
vitreus –a –um: of glass
formula –ae f.: a shape
nitor –oris m.: brightness, splendor
gemino –are –avi –atus: to double, repeat
visus –us m.: appearance
odor –is m.: a scent, odor
ieiunus –a –um: hungry