Γεωργος αξιος μελλει απολειψειν τον βιον και εθελει των τεκνων πειραν. Τον βιον απολειψω, ω τεκνα, αλλ' εν τη αμπελω ευρησετε θησαθρον. Χαιρετε. Επει ο γεωργος ο αγαθος τον βιον απολειπει, οι αδελφοι σπευδουσιν εν τη αμπελω οκαπτειν. Ουκ εχουσιν ευρισκειν τον καλον θησαυρον, αλλα τω αξιω εργω ποιοθσι τα φυτα της αμπελου καλα. Τοις τεκνοις ου δηλον το αγαθον δωρον του γεωργου το εργον θησαθρος τοις ανθρωποις.

Introduction
Vocabulary
Analysis
Translation
Media

Introduction

The moral of the story is that no good fortune comes without a decent amount of hard work. The passage I translated is about how a hard working farmer dies, and leaves the unattended soil to his selfish sons. He tells them there is a treasure deep in the soil, and they dig in. Soon they realize that the treasure is the fertilized and attended soil. Leaving soil full of rocks and weeds is always bad for a farm. If you want to maximize the most of your farmland, you have to remove the weeds and rocks. The farmer, in this story, died before he could do these things. He wanted his children to learn the lesson early in life. A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. This was a story about how if you work hard when you are young, then later in life you will live a relaxed one.

Vocabulary

Γεωργος- The worthy Farmer

αξιος- ἄξιος, ἄξιος, ἀξίᾱ, ἄξιον, worthy, worth (+ gen)

μελλει- μέλλω, μέλλω, μελλήσω, ἐμέλλησα, , is about to, be likely to (+ future infin.); delay

απολειψειν- to leave

βιον- life (to die)

και-καί, καί, and, also, even

Εθελει- ἐθέλω, ἐθέλω, ἐθελήσω, ἠθέλησα, ἠθέληκα, , is willing, wish

πειραν- to Τest, make trial of

Τεκνων- his children.

αλλ - ἀλλά, ἀλλά, "I will leave life o children, but

ευρησετε- (future tense) you all will Find, Find out, Discover

θησαυρον- Treasure in the

αμπελω- Vineyard, Farewell.", Vine

Χαιρετε- χαιρετίζω, say

Επει- There

Αγαθος-the good farmer died
αδελφοι- the Brothers

σπευδουσιν- Hurried to the

οκαπτειν- Vineyard to Dig

τον καλον- they are not able to find the beautiful

θησαυρον- Treasure

Φυτα- but they made beautiful Plants

αξιω- with their worthy work it

Εργω- Work to the children

Δηλον- it is not clear Visible, Evident

Δωρον- the good Gift of the father

Ανθρωποις- work is treasure to humans.

Analysis

For a beginning level Greek student to understand a commentary, they must have a open mindset, good attitude, and work hard. The way I made my commentary, they could rely heavily on the grammar list because I basically wrote down the commentary word by word. Be warned, some definitions you have to think about and change a little to make the sentence smoother. Hmmmm… I have had one great experience. Finishing translating my passage first. I also liked the fact that Ms. Wolfrom lets us listen to music while we are working. The atmosphere in the class is almost always relaxed and it helps calm me. I am almost done with the reflection and I am done with the vocabulary list and translation. We have not started the introduction yet though. The online translation compared to the real translation that I made on the passage are different, mostly because my passage is much more simple compared to the very complicated online translation. You can tell because the online translation uses more sophisticated than the ones that we students translate.

Translation

Aesop's Fable 42. The Farmer, His Sons, and the Field

Once there was a farmer who had four sons. The farmer was a hard-working man, but his sons were very lazy. As the farmer grew old, he realized that he had to teach his sons the value of hard work before he died. So, he took all his money and bought some land. The land was covered with weeds and full of stones, but the man knew it would be fertile ground for farming. His sons, however, were angry because they thought the land was worthless. They complained bitterly, but their father promised them that he had a good reason for buying the land.

Then, when he grew sick and knew he was dying, he summoned his sons and revealed the secret. "Now, before it is too late, I will tell you why I bought that land. The goddess Fortuna appeared to me and told me that in that land there is a treasure chest full of gold, but it is buried deep within the ground. Just find the buried treasure, and you will be wealthy for the rest of your lives." With those words, the old man died.

The sons were eager to uncover the treasure, so they started to dig. They pulled up the weeds and carted away the stones, turning over the soil to look for the treasure. They worked the ground for many days until, at last, they understood their father's words: the treasure was the land itself, made rich by their own hard work. They planted crops and the harvest was plentiful, and so it was every year, just as their father had promised.

The moral of the story is that hard work pays off, although it is not always in the way that you expect!

Media

(image by Walter Crane)

Posted by Laura Gibbs

From <http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2013/06/aesops-fable-42-farmer-his-sons-and.html>

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