Saturday, August 28, 2010

Illustrated: Mures et Catus


M0202 - M0203 - English - M0204

203. Mures et Catus Mortem Simulans. Catus, cum pistoris domum ingressus est, quam plurimos invenit mures et, nunc unum nunc alterum devorando, tam caute patrifamilias providebat ut paucos relinqueret. Mures interim, cum ante oculos habuissent diuturnam illorum caedem, consilium ceperunt quo pacto catum vorabundum evitarent. Post varias disceptationes, concludebant tandem ut in locis occultis altissimisque remanerent, ne descendendo in praedam cato venirent. Catus, hoc consilio intellecto, se mortuum fingebat, cum unus ex murium senioribus ab alto exclamavit, “Euge, amice! Non cato credendum est, ne mortuo quidem.”

Feles et Mures

Click here for a SLIDESHOW of all the Herrick images. This illustration is for a version where the cat pretends not just to be dead but rather to be a sack hanging from a peg.

M0203 = Perry079. Source: Barlow’s Aesop 21. This is Perry 79. For a story about the fox playing dead, see #439.