Ērūcula: Fābula Metamorphōsis tells the tale of one little caterpillar’s joy and pride with each new stage of its metamorphosis. After all, Erucula is easily the leader of all other caterpillars; it even wears a crown!
As Erucula muses about its own life, it describes the lives of the other caterpillars that crawl about the forests of Surinam. Each caterpillar has its own chrysalis and becomes a unique butterfly or moth.
This novella uses the vibrant vocabulary and images that Maria Sibylla Merian herself used to describe the lifecycle of insects in her book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, which she published in 1705
For a sample of the content, visit this link. To review the complete index verborum, go here.
This novella is available on Amazon for $11.50. It is also be available as part of free voluntary reading sets on Bombax Press.
About the Plot of Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis
Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis is based on the life and work of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). In the Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Merian carefully reports her observations of insect metamorphosis and includes vibrant and colorful descriptions of the insects and the plants that they feed on. Her book is essential not only because of its contribution to scientific understanding and its exceptional artwork, but also because of its delightful imagery and ethnographic descriptions of the indigenous populations.
This novella aims to capture her exuberant style through the particular use of some of her vocabulary. For example, she describes insects and plants and rejoicing or being proud, and she tends to prefer color words based on verbs, like flavescēns or viridescēns. I did, however, opt to use ater intead of nigricāns, in order to avoid a word that may be triggering to some student populations.
This novella begins with an introduction of key vocabulary words with which students may be unfamiliar. It then introduces students to erucula, our narrator (see the sample here for the first two pages describing our narrator), who is a proud little caterpillar with a crown. Erucula describes other caterpillars that live in Surinam with it before describing the appearance of different chrysalises and the butterflies or moths that come out of them. The novella ends with a short introduction to erucula’s friend, Maria Sibylla Merian.
The novella does contain some small references to religion, which was maximi momenti to Merian who saw God in the insects she studied. It also references slavery as it is impossible to write with any accuracy about the colonial Americas without referencing the role slaves were forced to play.
About the Vocabulary and Grammar
The vocabulary is intentionally sheltered to allow for more extensive and independent reading. The novella contains about 1,750 words, and it uses 186 total unique words.
Although I typically aim for high-frequency vocabulary, I differed in how I approached this novella. I wanted to use some of the charming words and phrases that Merian used to describe the insects and plants she encountered. As such, you will read praegrandis and exiguus instead of only magnus and parvus. Similarly, I use dēpāscitur instead of edit. This novella is suitable for use in Latin I or II due to its relatively low vocabulary and extensive use of pictures to aid in comprehension. The novella contains 186 vocabulary words, including 46 clear cognates, 17 glosses, and 5 proper nouns. This novella then requires a working vocabulary of 118 words. In addition, the novella uses several related words. For example, both macula and maculata are used to describe insects.
Unlike the vocabulary, the grammar in this novella is not sheltered. This novella is mostly set in the present tense. It does include some past tense verbs, particularly in the biographical section.
About the Artwork
The vast majority of the artwork included in this novella is from Maria Sibylla Merian’s own book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium. It is in the public domain. Although the images were taken from a 1705 edition, it is not clear who colored the images in this edition. Merian sold black and white books, colored books, and hand painted books. Someone in Merian’s studio could have colored the images in this book, including Merian herself, or someone who purchased the book could have colored the images themselves after they had purchased a black-and-white edition. The images that are used that are not from Merian’s work include the relevant bibliographic information in the novella.
I personally edited the images to increase some of the color saturation to counter the centuries of fading. I also cropped the images to fit the narrative arc of the book. I imagine Merian would be horrified that I removed the caterpillars and butterflies from their natural surroundings, and I rather hope she forgives me for it. The full images are wondrous and worthy of study. The images came from 1705 Dutch edition, which is available here. I am grateful to the Smithsonian Libraries and the Biodiversity Heritage Library for making this book available.
I remain grateful to my neighbor Linda Renaud of Lindarenaudart.com for saving my attempts to make the cover art, which further relies on Merian’s artwork.
Sampling of Artwork used in Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis
About the Text Features
Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis has a full index of all 1,750 words in their various forms. In the index, the reader can look up all unknown words. The index lists verbs separately. As such, a reader could independently look up both erant and sunt without knowing the dictionary entry of the word. The index provides a general translation of the word. Verbs include a translation that is grammatically appropriate and would fit the context of the sentence.
If you would like to review the index verborum used in Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis, that is available here.
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