Previous Up

6.1  The Crow and the Fox (Karha s’Seile)

One day, a fox saw a crow with a piece of cheese in her beak sitting on a branch of a tree.
Eia hess, seileva vōs toruma lemgin atonuma, krodzes keriporuma karhon salende.
one  day,  fox-nom  mouth-dat  be.inside-att  cheese-acc  ipf-have-att  branch-dat  sit-cmpd-be.above-att  crow-acc  see.pst

He thought ’Let me get that cheese for myself’ and walked up to the foot of the tree.
”Terma lemgin midzas satonūmene” malon tevne, koppa-takes tenganende.
that  cheese-acc  self-dat  vr.st-ipf-have-coh  quot  think.pf-iccl  tree-stem-dat  go.to.point.pf-pst

’Good day, oh crow!’, he said, ’How well you are looking today! How shining are your eyes, how glossy are your feathers!
”Salidzon, karha!” malon, ”Veness ālaneidze nemon akonum! Nei nemon salmi hymnōn! Nei nemon hëymi alëym!
greetings  crow!  quot  today  good-adv  you-gen.aff  ipf-appear!  mp.praise  you-gen.aff  eye-pl  bright-pred!  mp.praise  you-gen.aff  feather-pl  ipf-shine!

Your voice must surely surpass the voices of other birds, just like your form does’
Īlin nemon nasan mīna tossemin atyruhëyrum, ālin nemon roume umnetyrūm.
as  you-gen.aff  shape  every  bird-pl-acc  ipf-surpass  so  you-gen.aff  voice  suppose-be.beyond.ipf

Oh crow, could you sing me a song so that I can call you the queen of birds!’
Karha, nadzan ei toutoman lanëssu, e tossemīa perinda-mal taliþon edze amas tyðriðëssum.”
crow,  me-dat.aff  one  song-res.aff  sing.pf-imp,  so.that  bird-gen.pl  queen-called  name-acc  I-nom.aff  you-dat  give-cmpd-be.able.to.pf

The crow lifted her head in order to sing, but as she opened her beak, the cheese fell down and was taken by the fox.
Karhava lonuma patas poruchon ny sorue, lemge ndo hyrue, s’seiles tachnidzuende.
crow-nom.aff  sing-att  wish-dat  head-acc  on.one.hand  raise.pf-iccl  cheese  on.other.hand  fall.pf-iccl  and  fox-dat  take-cmpd-be.done-pst

’That’s right, that’s what I wanted’, said the fox, ’In exchange for the cheese I shall give you a piece of advice for the future: Do not trust flatteres.’
”Ālana-ālanōn”, malon seile tālende, ”Vënumaton im’ āþinende. Lemges tëyrue ei devin nedzon ganimos tyðrum: Līsalirmis dovnironëssu.”
good-good-pred  quot  fox  say.pf-pst  this.very-acc  me-gen  ipf-wish-pst.  cheese-dat  exchange.ipf-iccl  one  advice-acc  you-dat.aff  future-dat  give.pf:  flatterer-pl-dat  trust-cmpd-not.do-imp



tumblr site counter


Previous Up