Latin Book Club — Perrault’s Diamonds & Toads in Latin

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.