Rustica deflentem parvum iuraverat olim, ni taceat, rabido quod foret esca lupo. credulus hanc vocem lupus audiit et manet ipsas pervigil ante fores, irrita vota gerens. nam lassata puer nimiae dat membra quieti; spem quoque raptoris sustulit inde fami. hunc ubi silvarum repetentem lustra suarum ieiunum coniunx sensit adesse lupa, "cur" inquit "nullam referens de more rapinam languida consumptis sic trahis ora genis?" "ne mireris" ait "deceptum fraude maligna vix miserum vacua delituisse fuga: nam quae praeda, rogas, quae spes contingere posset, iurgia nutricis cum mihi verba darent?"haec sibi dicta putet seque hac sciat arte notari, femineam quisquis credidit esse fidem.
Once upon a time when her little boy was crying, a peasant-woman had sworn that if he were not quiet he would be given as a tit-bit for a ravenous wolf. A credulous wolf overheard these words and waited on guard close in front of the cottage doors, cherishing hopes in vain. For the child let a deep sleep come over his weary limbs, and besides deprived the hungry robber thereby of his expectation. The wolf repaired to the lair in his native woods, and his mate, seeing him arrive famished, said, "Why don't you bring back the usual prey? Why are your cheeks wasted and your jaws so drawn and emaciated?" "A mean trick took me in," he said; "so don't be surprised that I have been hard put to it to skulk pitifully away—with no spoil. What kill, do you ask, could come my way? what prospect could there be, when a scolding nurse befooled me?"Let anyone who believes in a woman's sincerity reflect that to him these words are spoken and that it is he whom this lesson censures.
Fabulae, I. De Nutrice et Infante ('The Nurse and her Child')
Other translations:Men ought not by byleue on al maner spyrytes / As reherceth this fable of an old woman / which said to her child bicause that it wept / certeynly if thow wepst ony more / I shal make the to be ate of the wulf / & the wulf heryng this old woman / abode styll to fore the yate / & supposed to haue eten the old womans child / & by cause that the wulf had soo longe taryed there that he was hongry / he retorned and went ageyne in to the wood/ And the shewulf demaunded of hym / why hast thow not brought to me some mete / And the wulf ansuerd / by cause / that the old woman hath begyled me / the whiche had promysed to me to gyue to me her child for to haue ete hym / And at the laste I hadde hit not / And therfore men ought in no wyse to trust the woman / And he is wel a fole that setteth his hope and truste in a woman / And therfore truste them not / and thow shalt doo as the sage and wyse. —William Caxton, "The old Woman and the Wulf", The Fables of Aesop, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio (1484)
Curva retro cedens dum fert vestigia cancer, hispida saxosis terga relisit aquis. hunc genetrix facili cupiens procedere gressu talibus alloquiis emonuisse datur: "ne tibi transverso placeant haec devia, nate, rursus in obliquos neu velis ire pedes, sed nisu contenta ferens vestigia recto innocuos proso tramite siste gradus." cui natus "faciam, si me praccesseris" inquit, "rectaque monstrantem certior ipse sequar. nam stultum nimis est, cum tu pravissima temptes, alterius censor si vitiosa notes."
While a crab was walking backwards and tracing its crooked way, it banged its scaly back in the rocky pools. Its mother, eager to go forward with step unhindered, is said to have delivered a warning to it in such words as these: "Don't go zigzag and choose these crooked ways, my child, and don't seek to move backwards and slantwise on your feet. Step out vigorously with straightforward effort and plant your footsteps safely in the onward path." "I will do so," the young crab replied, "if you go ahead of me; and, if you show me the correct road, I will follow the more surely. For it is exceedingly foolish of you, when you are attempting the most crooked of courses yourself, to set up as censor and criticise the faults of another."
Fabulae, III. De Cancro et Matre Eius ('The Crab and its Mother')
Other translations:He whiche will teche and lerne some other / ought first to corryge & examyne hym self / as it appereth by this fable of a creuysse / whiche wold haue chastysed her owne doughter bicause that she wente not wel ryght / And sayd to her in this manere / My doughter / hit pleaseth me not that thow goost thus backward / For euylle myght wel therof come to the / And thenne the doughter sayd to her moder My moder I shalle go ryght and forward with a good will but ye must goo before for to shewe to me the waye / But the moder coude not other wyse goo / than after her kynd / wherfore her doughter sayd unto her / My moder fyrst lerne your self for to goo ryght and forward / and thenne ye shalle teche me And therfore he that wylle teche other / ought to shewe good ensample / For grete shame is to the doctour whanne his owne coulpe or faulte accuseth hym. —William Caxton, "The Creuysses", The Fables of Aesop, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio (1484)
