Aesopus Simplicissimus: Rusticus et Hercules

The Tar Heel Reader project has inspired me to start writing some fables I'm labeling Aesopus Simplicissimus. I'll be publishing those fables here - sometimes with an accompanying reader at Tar Heel, and sometimes just the text on its own. You can read more about this "Simplicissimus" project in this earlier post, and see all the "Simplicissimus" fables here.

For today, the fable is Rusticus et Hercules, an old Aesop's fable about how "God helps them that help themselves." You can find materials and resources for this fable at the Aesopus Wiki - including Tar Heel Reader versions. Here is the fable:

Ecce Rústicus! Rústicus currum habet. Ecce lutum! In via est lutum profúndum. In via lutósa, Rústici currus omnino haeret.

Rústicus valde frustrátus est! In lutum súbsidit et Deum implórat: "O Hércules, te implóro: audi mea vota! Propítius ádiuva me quod currus meus in luto haeret!"

De caelo Hércules ómnia videt. Currum in luto videt et rústicum pigrum. Deus íntonat: "Nunc surge, O piger, et ágita equum! Currum impélle víribus tuis! Ádmove manus - tum demum Hércules tibi propítius erit."

Fábula docet: Otiósa vota Deus non audit.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source):

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.