Today's fable is Perry 346, the story of the wolf who envied the dog - until he learned about the dog's collar. At del.icio.us, you can see a complete list of the versions of this fable type that I have collected. This is a story well-represented in the Latin tradition, beginning with Phaedrus, a poet who took a special interest in stories of slavery and freedom - not surprisingly, since Phaedrus himself was a freedman.
This is another of the fables you can find in Jacobs & Doering's Latin reader; here is their version of the story:
Lupus canem videns bene saginatum, Quanta est, inquit, felicitas tua! Tu, ut videtur, laute vivis, at ego fame enecor. Tum canis, Licet, inquit, mecum in urbem venias et eadem felicitate fruaris. Lupus conditionem accepit. Dum una eunt, animadvertit lupus in collo canis attritos pilos. Quid hoc est? inquit. Num iugum sustines? Cervix enim tua tota est glabra. Nihil est, canis respondit. Sed interdiu me alligant, ut noctu sim vigilantior; atque haec sunt vestigia collaris, quod cervici circumdari solet. Tum lupus, Vale, inquit, amice! nihil moror felicitatem servitute emptam! Haec fabula docet, liberis nullum commodum tanti esse quod servitutis calamitatem compensare possit.
Here it is written out in segmented style to make it easier to follow, while respecting the Latin word order:
Lupus
canem videns
bene saginatum,
Quanta est, inquit,
felicitas tua!
Tu, ut videtur,
laute vivis,
at ego fame enecor.
Tum canis,
Licet, inquit,
mecum in urbem venias
et eadem felicitate fruaris.
Lupus conditionem accepit.
Dum una eunt,
animadvertit lupus
in collo canis
attritos pilos.
Quid hoc est? inquit.
Num iugum sustines?
Cervix enim tua
tota est glabra.
Nihil est,
canis respondit.
Sed interdiu me alligant,
ut noctu sim vigilantior;
atque haec sunt
vestigia collaris,
quod
cervici circumdari solet.
Tum lupus,
Vale, inquit, amice!
nihil moror felicitatem
servitute emptam!
Haec fabula docet,
liberis
nullum commodum
tanti esse
quod
servitutis calamitatem
compensare possit.
I've created a slideshow of images for this story. You can view the album, or see a full-screen version of the slideshow. Here is a small version of the slideshow; to hide the captions, just click on the caption icon in the lower left-hand corner.
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