The Fox and the Crow:
Flattered Out of His Cheese

Corvus, quī alicunde caseum rapuerat,¹ in altam arborem subvolāvit. Vulpēcula,² quae caseum appetēbat,³ corvum ita adloquitur: "Fōrmam tuam magnopere laudō et pennārum tuārum nitōrem. Pol!⁴ Sī cantus tuus pulchritūdinī⁵ tuae respondet,⁶ rēx avium es." Tum corvus, laudibus⁷ vulpēculae īnflātus,⁸ cantāre cōnātus est. Sed ē rōstrō apertō⁹ dēlāpsus¹⁰ est caseus, quem vulpēcula statim dēvorāvit. Verba adulātōrum sunt pretī parvī¹¹, ut¹² haec fābula docet.

1. had stolen, from rapiō.
2. vulpēs is fox, vulpēcula, little fox. The suffix -cula is often thus used in forming diminutives.
3. had a great desire for, English appetite is a direct descendant from this word.
4. By Pollux! A very common exclamation. Pollux was one of the numerous Roman demigods.
5. Dative of Indirect Object.
6. corresponds to, is equal to.
7. Ablative of Cause, with īnflātus.
8. puffed up, perfect participle of īnflō.
9. ē rōstrō apertō: out of his opened beak, i.e. opened in effort to sing. apertō is the perfect participle of aperiō.
10. From dēlābor, slip out.
11. pretī parvī: of little value
12. as. With this meaning ut takes the indicative.