Sample for Erucula
Latin Novellas

Sample for Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis

Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis is a Latin novella published by Bombax Press. This sample for Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis contains two pages of the novella. These pages introduce the reader to the narrator, which occurs after four pages of vocabulary and pictures to orient readers to the vocabulary in the novella. It contains all the images used in the novella as well as the glossed vocabulary.

The novella is about 1,750 words long. The novella contains 186 vocabulary words, including 46 clear cognates, 17 glosses, and 5 proper nouns. Words like metamorphosis and oblongōs are cognates. With proper names, glossed words, and clear cognates removed, students need a working vocabulary of 118 words to read this novella. The complete index verborum is available here. More detailed information beyond the sample for Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis is available here.

Sample for Erucula: Fabula Metamorphosis

Salvē, lēctor!

Ego gaudeō tē legere hunc librum. Quis sum? Permitte mē dēscrībere mē. Ego sum ērūcula! Multa genera[1] ērūcārum sunt. Magnae et exiguae ērūcae sunt. Quia ego sum ērūca exigua, sum ērūcula.

Ego in terrā Surinamēnsī habitō. Surinamēnsis terra in Americā Merīdiōnālī est.[2] Silvae Surinamēnsēs sunt magnae, et multa genera arborum in hīs silvīs sunt. Arborēs facile in terrā crēscunt! Arborēs multa folia habent, et in multīs arboribus frūctūs quoque crēscunt.

Ubi sum? Ego sum in foliō arboris. Haec arbor crēscit frūctūs similēs banānīs. Haec arbor et frūctūs mē dēlectant. Quia ērūca sum, nōn possum ambulāre. Ērūcae rēpunt, nōn ambulant. Ego rēpō in foliīs huius arboris quia ego dēpāscor folia.

Ecce, mē! Ego habeō corpus optimum! Ego armāta sum quia habeō quattuor aculeōs in corpore. Ego caudam optimam quoque habeō! Caput mihi pulchrum quoque est. Ego superba ērūcula fuscō colōre sum! Nonne ego sum pulcher? Amīca mea hanc pictūram meī pīnxit! Amīca mea vīdit mē in silvā Surinamēnsī.

Cūr ego superba sum? Cūr ego gaudeō? In capite mihi, ego habeō corōnam! Quia corōnāta sum, facile dīcitur, “Tū es facile prīnceps omnium ērūcārum!” Ego putō mē esse facile prīncipem omnium ēūcārum… sed fortasse tū hoc nōn putās. Amīca mea pīnxit multās pictūrās ērūcārum. Fortasse tū vīs vidēre multās ērūcās in hīs pictūrīs… sed, multīs ērūcīs vīsīs,[3] tū dīcēs, “Tū facile prīnceps es!”


[1] Types

[2] Carey, Mathew, and William Guthrie. A map of South America: according to the best authorities. [Philadelphia?: Mathew Carey?, ?, 1796] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2018593319.

[3] After you have seen many caterpillars