You can find more Latin stories at Centum.LauraGibbs.net,
and more Tiny Tales at 100Words.LauraGibbs.net.
and more Tiny Tales at 100Words.LauraGibbs.net.
Cerva canes audit, et sibi dicit,
"Ubi canes, ibi venatores!"
Cerva valde venatores timet,
et eorum canes timet quoque.
Sic territa,
cerva venatores celeriter fugit,
et in speluncam pervenit.
Cerva sibi cogitat,
"Ecce spelunca!
In hac spelunca latebo.
Si in spelunca latebo,
venatores me non invenient."
Fortuna sua gaudens,
cerva in speluncam intrat, dicens,
"Nunc salva sum!"
Sed in hac spelunca vivit leo!
Leo cervam comprehendit,
fortuna sua gaudens.
Ab leone comprehensa,
cerva ad mortem se parat, exclamans,
"Vae mihi!
Hominem fugiens,
ferae me tradidi,
et nunc moritura sum."
Fabula docet:
Homines quoque,
minoribus periculis territi,
in mala maiora incurrunt.
Dictionary help:
ab — ad — audit — canes — celeriter — cerva — cervam — cogitat — comprehendit — comprehensa — dicens — dicit — docet — ecce — eorum — et — exclamans — fabula — ferae — fortuna — fugiens — fugit — gaudens — hac — hominem — homines — ibi — in — incurrunt — intrat — invenient — latebo — leo — leone — maiora — mala — me — mihi — minoribus — moritura — mortem — non — nunc — parat — periculis — pervenit — quoque — salva — se — sed — si — sibi — sic — spelunca — speluncam — sua — sum — territa — territi — timet — tradidi — ubi — vae — valde — venatores — vivit
Here is the version of the fable in Mille Fabulae et Una:
Mille Fabulae et Una: 159. Cerva in Speluncam Fugiens.
Cerva, venatores fugiens, in speluncam quamdam, ubi leo degebat, pervenit ut in ea nimirum ingressa lateret. Sed illico ab eo comprehensa necique parata, “Ah me infelicem,” exclamavit, “quae fugiens homines, ferae me tradidi!” Ita nonnulli hominum, minoribus periculis territi, maiora se in mala coniiciunt.
And here is an English version of the fable. This is not a translation; it's another version of the same story in 100 English words.
100-Words: The Deer in the Cave
And here is an English version of the fable. This is not a translation; it's another version of the same story in 100 English words.
100-Words: The Deer in the Cave
A deer was fleeing some hunters and ran inside a cave.
"I'll be safe in here!" thought the deer. "I'll just wait here inside the cave until the hunters are gone, and then it will be safe for me to go back out."
What the deer didn't know was that there was a lion in that cave.
The lion pounced on the deer and tore her to pieces.
"Alas!" shrieked the deer. "I was on the run from human hunters, but it is actually another wild animal who has killed me."
Be careful not to exchange one danger for another.