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.
Mors ad senem venit, dicens,
"Mors sum,
et nunc te e vita rapiam."
Senex, territus, rogat,
"Paululum differ!
Testamentum condere debeo!
Cetera necessaria praeparare volo."
Mors respondet,
"Quare non praeparata sunt omnia?
Toties a me admonitus es!"
Senex clamat,
"Numquam a te admonitus sum!"
Mors ridet.
"Aequales tui nulli iam restant;
Mortui sunt omnes!
Etiam iuvenes, pueros, et infantes quotidie rapio.
Hoc modo de mortalitate tua te admoneo.
Oculi tui hebescunt.
Auditus tuus diminutus est.
Ceteri sensus tui deficiunt.
Corpus tuum ingravescit.
Haec omnia sentis,
et te admonitum negas?
Ulterius non differam!"
Et sine mora Mors senem e vita rapit.
Dictionary help:
bona — cani — canis — consequor — devia — dicit — ecce — ego — epulas — es — est — esto — et — etiam — exhaustus — habes — haec — inedia — iocans — labore — leo — leoni — liber — me — miser — nec — nitidus — non — occurrit — otio — percurris — pinguis — possum — potes — quid — quomodo — sed — servire — servum — servus — silvas — specta — specto — stolidum — stolidus — sum — te — tu — verum — vincula — volo
Here is the version of the fable in Mille Fabulae et Una:
Mille Fabulae et Una: 818. Mors et Senex.
Senex quidam Mortem, quae eum e vita raptura advenerat, rogabat, ut paululum differret, dum testamentum conderet et cetera ad tantum iter necessaria praepararet. Cui Mors “Cur non,” inquit, “hactenus praeparasti, toties a me admonitus?” Et, cum ille eam numquam a se visam amplius diceret, “Cum,” inquit, “non aequales tuos modo quorum nulli fere iam restant, verum etiam iuvenes, pueros, infantes quotidie rapiebam, non te admonebam mortalitatis tuae? Cum oculos hebescere, auditum minui, ceterosque sensus in dies deficere, corpus ingravescere sentiebas, nonne tibi me propinquam esse dicebam? Et te admonitum negas? Quare ulterius differendum non est.”
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: Death's Warnings
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: Death's Warnings
Death came to take an old man's soul, but the man protested. "That's not fair! You should have given me a warning first. I need time to set my affairs in order."
"I gave you plenty of warnings," Death replied.
"But I've never laid eyes on you before."
"You saw me when I came for others," said Death. "And more than that: I gave you signs. Gray hair, bad eyes, stooped back, poor hearing. Those were all my messengers. If you ignored them, that is no fault of mine."
Memento mori: the time to prepare yourself is now, not later.
