Introduction
Have you heard the story about the girl who met an old woman by the well and was granted a magical gift? This is Charles Perrault’s “Les Fées,” known to most English speakers as “Diamonds and Toads.”
The story comes from Perrault’s book of fairytales, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, or, Stories or Tales from Past Times, published in 1697.
You may have read it in French or English, but since we focus on helping people with reading and learning Latin, we shall today read the story in Latin.
You see, we recently published a beautiful translation of eight of Perrault’s fairytales. Now you can read them in the greatest language of them all: Latin.
So, let’s have a cup of tea or coffee, and read “Diamonds and Toads”, in Latin.
Video in Latin
Watch and listen to the story read in Latin by teacher Daniel Pettersson.
Audio only
Listen to this episode in your podcast app or here on Latinitium.com
Latin Text
Fuit ōlim vidua, cui duæ erant fīliæ ; quārum major nātū indole vultūque eī tam similis erat ut quī hanc vidēret effigiem mātris ante sē habēre putāret. Et māter et fīlia adēo jūrgiōsæ superbæque erant ut nēmō cum iīs vīvere posset. Fīlia altera autem nōn modo amœnitāte probitāteque patrī simillima, vērum etiam īnsignis pulchritūdinis erat. At quoniam æquālis, ut ajunt, æquālem dēlectat, māter fīliam majōrem ārdenter amābat, minōrem contrā male ōderat cōgēbatque in culīnā cēnāre et continenter labōrāre.
Inter alia jubēbātur misella bis in diē aquātum īre ad fontem amplius duōbus mīllibus passuum ā domō distantem, indeque urnam aquæ plēnam reportāre. Quōdam autem diē, cum ad fontis ōram sedēret, mulierem pauperrimam cōnspexit quæ propius accessit ōrāvitque ut sibi bibere daret. Cui bella puella “Anus amābilis,” inquit, “libenter dabō !”.
Urnā pūrgātā, anuī aquam ex optimō fontis locō haustam ministrāvit, usque urnam sustinēns, quō facilius ex eā bibere posset. Quō factō anicula “Mea puella,” inquit, “tam pulchra, tam bona, tam proba es, ut nōn possim tibi aliquid dōnō nōn dare.” (Maga enim erat, quæ speciem pāgānæ pauperis eō cōnsiliō imitāta erat ut experīrētur quantum probitātis in illā virgine esset.) Pergēns maga : “Hoc tibi dōnō dō ut, quot fēceris verba, tot flōrēs aut gemmæ tibi ex ōre cadant.”
Bella puella domum vix pervēnerat cum ā mātre objūrgāta est, quod tam sērō ā fonte redīret. Tum misera “Ō māter,” inquit, “obsecrō moram meam ignōscās.” At simul atque hæc dīxit, margarītæ duæ et rosæ duæ, magnæque gemmæ duæ eī excidērunt ex ōre. Tum māter attonita : “Quid hoc reī est ? Sānē crēdō margarītās gemmāsque istī ex ōre cadere. Quī fit, mea fīlia ?” (Numquam antehāc fīliam allocūta erat fīliæ nōmine.) Misella simplex et incauta omnia nārrāvit quæ acciderant, īnfīnītam gemmārum multitūdinem effundēns. “Mecastor,” inquit māter, “fīlia mea ad eundem locum mittenda est. Ō Franciscula mea, venī vīsum quid sorōrī tuæ loquentī exeat ex ōre ! Nōnne lætāberis, sī idem dōnum habēbis ? Proinde sīc tibi faciendum est : ītō ad fontem aquātum ac, ubi paupercula postulāverit, cōmiter bibere datō.” Cui soror maligna cachinnāns “Ō quid jūcundius,” respondit, “quam aquātum īre…” Sed māter eī : “Imperō tibi ut eās, atque āctūtum !”
Fīlia maligna, usque sēcum nesciō quid murmurāns, in viam sē dedit, ampullam argenteam ferēns quam ēlegantissimam domī invenīre poterat.
Ad fontem vixdum pervēnerat cum fēminam generōsam apparātēque vestītam cōnspexit, quæ forte ē nemore prōdībat. Quæ, cum propius ad puellam accessisset, paulum aquæ ab eā poposcit. (Maga scīlicet eadem erat quæ ā sorōre vīsa erat. Jam vērō nōbilissimæ fēminæ speciem vestemque induerat, eō ūnicō cōnsiliō ut experīrētur quantum improbitātis in istā virgine esset.) Cui superba puella malignē “Ō mulier amplissima,” inquit, “num tibi aquam ministrātum hūc usque vēnī ? Ideō hanc ampullam argenteam afferō ut tibi pōtum impertiar. Sānē et libenter quidem : bibe ex eā, si tibi libet.” Cui maga æquō animō “Puella haud proba es,” respondit. “Ergō, quandōquidem omnīnō carēs hūmānitāte, hoc tibi dōnō dō ut, quot fēceris verba, tot anguēs vel būfōnēs tibi ex ōre cadant.”
Māter simulatque eam redeuntem cōnspexit, clāmāvit “Quid ergō, fīlia mea ?” Cui fīlia maligna “Quid ergō, māter mea ?” et hīs verbīs anguēs ac būfōnēs bīnōs in humum exspuit. Et māter exclāmāns “Dī bonī, quidnam videō ? Tua soror in culpā est : faxō pœnās mihi solvet !” Et statim cucurrit puellam castīgātum miseram, quæ in silvās proximās cōnfūgit.
Atque fīlius rēgis, cum ē vēnātiōne redīret, forte puellam invēnit ; pulchritūdinem ejus animadvertit rogāvitque quid nam ibi sōla ageret et quā dē causā flēret. “Ēheu, domine,” inquit illa, “quod domō expulsa sum ā mātre.” Rēgis fīlius, cum quīnque vel sex margarītās totidem que gemmās ex ōre puellæ cadere vīdisset, ōrāvit ut tantī portentī causam explicāret. Illa igitur omnia nārrāvit quæ sibi acciderant. Adulēscēns rēgius repentīnō amōre captus sēcum reputāvit tāle dōnum plūris valēre quam dōtem quæ maxima spōnsō ā spōnsā numerārī posset, eamque in paternam rēgiam trādūxit, sibique mātrimōniō jūnxit. Quod vērō ad sorōrem attinet, adeō in odium incurrit ut ā propriā mātre domō expulsa sit. Misera igitur, cum diū cucurrisset nec quemquam invēnisset quī sē hospitiō recipere vellet, ad ōram alicujus silvæ lūcem relīquit.