Schleicher’s Fable

Or, the sheep and the horses

 

 

Οἶς πεπεκτημένα ἵππους τρεῖς εἶδε, ἥ μεν ἅμαξαν βαρεῖαν ἕλκουσαν, ἥ δε ἄχθος μέγα φέρουσαν, ἥ δε ἄνδρα ταχεῖαν φέρουσαν. Εἶπε ταῖς ἵπποις ἡ οἶς, “Μὲ μοῦ κῆρ ἀλγύνει ὁρᾶν ἄνδρα ἵππους ἐλαύνοντα.” Εἶπον αἱ ἵπποι, “Ἄκουσα, οἶς, ἡμᾶς ἀλγύνουσι ἡμέτερα τὰ κῆρα ταῦτα ὁρᾶν· ἀνθρώπον, τὸν δεσπότην, ποιοῦντα ἐκ τῶ τῆς οἶος ἐρίῳ χιτῶνα θερμὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἕνεκα· μηδὲ ὀν τῇ οἰΐ τι ἐρίον.” Ταῦτα ἀκούσᾱσα ἡ οἶς εἰς τὸ πεδίον ἔφυγε.

 

(Oîs pepektēména híppous treîs eîde, hḗ men hámaxan bareîan hélkousan, hḗ de áchthos méga phérousan, hḗ de ándra tacheîan phérousan. Eîpe taîs híppois hē oîs, “Me moû kêr algýnei horân ándra híppous elaúnonta.” Eîpon hai híppoi, “ákousa, oîs, hēmâs algýnousi hēmétera ta kêra taûta horân: anthrṓpon, ton despótēn, poioûnta ek tô tês oîos eríō chitôna thermon heautoû héneka; mēde on tê oiḯ ti eríon.” Taûta akoúsāsa hē oîs eis to pedíon éphyge.)

 

A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: “My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses.” The horses said: “Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool.” Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.

 

 

This story was originally written by linguist August Schleicher (1821 to 1868) in order to showcase his reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language. Since then various linguists have published revised versions, as scholars’ ideas of what Proto-Indo-European looked like have changed over time. Several versions can be found here.