June 2022, I was exercising my understanding of dactylic hexameter by setting some of Aesop’s Fables into the meter, trying to preserve the original vocabulary as much as possible while allowing myself access to as many other tools in the “Homeric toolkit” as I could think of. I recently stumbled upon this one while sorting through old files, and thought I might share (without revisions!).
ἵππος μέν τινι ἦν, ὂν τ᾽εἰώθει παρὰ ἕλκειν
κεῖνος· φόρτον ἐπ᾽ ἠδὲ γέροντι τίθει τε ὄνῳ δέ.
κάμνων ἵππονδ᾽ ἔλθων, ὡμιλέει τε ἐκεῖνος,
«σῦν ἐθελήσῃς ἄν τι λάβων, σῷος τε εἴην ἄν,
θνῄσκω νῦν.» ὁ δὲ εἶπέν τε «πρόαγ᾽ ἠδὲ μὴ ὄχλει.»
εἷρπε σιωπῶν, νεκρὸς ἔκειτο πεσὼν διὰ κόπον
ὡς πρό τε εἰρήκει. ἱστάντος δ᾽οὖν παρὰ αὐτόν
ἵππου, κρείττων εὐθὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν τίθει τε σαγήνην
καὶ ὀνείην ἐκδείρας. «οἴμοι» ἔφη δὲ ὁ ἵππος,
«οὗ δὲ μετασχεῖν οὔ μοι βουληθέντι τι μικρόν
πᾶν ἐπὶ νῦν γὲ τεθήκει χρείη, νηπίῳ ἵππῳ.»