Prevod

(Let no one undertake a task beyond his strength.) The reader will surely have seen, In an inn or a monastery, A clever contrivance For turning a roasting spit. It is a wooden wheel 5 With steps, and a Dog, Shut up inside it, Turns it round with his feet. It seems that a certain Dog Who kept this machine in motion 10 Began one day to say: “I work hard enough; and what do they give me? “How I sweat, poor wretch that I am! And in the end, as a great favor, They will toss me some bone 15 Left over from that partridge. “Life here is nothing But hardship and discomfort: I shall leave not only this house, But the town as well.” 20 No sooner was he let loose Than, slipping away unnoticed, He reached the fields, where a Mule Was turning a waterwheel. Scarcely had he seen him 25 When he said: “Who goes there? It seems that out here They roast meat too.” “I’m not roasting meat; I’m drawing water,” The Mule replied. 30 “I could do that too,” The Dog broke in, “though I am thin. “Since that wheel is larger, I shall work a little harder. Is it so heavy? Well, what of it? 35 Don’t I turn the wheel of my spit? “Above all, they will have to give me A larger ration, and I shall earn more glory…” Then the beast at the waterwheel Interrupted him like this: 40 “I advise you to go back To turning your roasting spit, For this task is beyond The strength of a little Cur.” Just look at that sly Mule, 45 And what a fine reply he gave! I have read the very same In a certain Horace Flaccus, Who tells an author it is a grave mistake To shoulder what he later 50 Will lack the strength to carry: that is, Let no Dog turn a waterwheel.