Monēdula quaedam corporis magnitūdine cēterīs praestantior, suārum cōnsortium dēspiciēns, ad Corvōs sēcessit, rogāvitque, ut eōrum societāte fruī permitterent. Illī formam et vōcem corvī eī dēesse noscentēs, inter verbera ēiēcēre. Ita ab illīs expulsa, ad monēdulās revertitur; sed illae ob iniūriam illatam īrātae nōn suscēpēre, ac ita factum est, ut utrōrumque cōnsortiō prīvārētur.
SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies De Furia's edition of the Greek Aesopic corpus, published in 1810 and available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 285 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 123.
READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons (above) or accent marks (below) - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the very bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)
ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with accent marks, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):
Monédula quaedam córporis magnitúdine céteris praestántior, suárum consórtium despíciens, ad Corvos secéssit, rogavítque, ut eórum societáte frui permítterent. Illi formam et vocem corvi ei deésse noscéntes, inter vérbera eiecére. Ita ab illis expúlsa, ad monédulas revértitur; sed illae ob iniúriam illátam irátae non suscepére, ac ita factum est, ut utrorúmque consórtio privarétur.
UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text:
Monedula quaedam
corporis magnitudine
ceteris praestantior,
suarum consortium despiciens,
ad Corvos secessit,
rogavitque,
ut eorum societate frui
permitterent.
Illi
formam et vocem corvi
ei deesse
noscentes,
inter verbera eiecere.
Ita ab illis expulsa,
ad monedulas revertitur;
sed illae
ob iniuriam illatam iratae
non suscepere,
ac ita factum est,
ut utrorumque consortio
privaretur.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) - you can see why a monedula might decide she could be a crow!
