Planta erat in Rusticī agrō fructum nōn ferēns, sed passerculīs solum et cicādīs refugium praebēbat. Rusticus itaque ut infructiferam caedere voluit; quapropter sumptā secūrī ictum intulit. Tum cicādae et passerculī, refugium nē excideret suum, ōrābant, Et abstinē, quaesō, aiēbant, ut in hāc arbore canere, et tē, Rustice, dēlectāre possīmus. At ille nihil cūrāns, secundum ac tertium intulit vulnus. Ut vērō arborem cavāvit, apum exāmen ūnā cum melle reperit; quō gustātō, secūrim abiēcit, plantamque ut sacram coluit et cūrāvit.
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 266 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 299.
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):
Planta erat in Rústici agro fructum non ferens, sed passérculis solum et cicádis refúgium praebébat. Rústicus ítaque ut infructíferam caédere vóluit; quaprópter sumpta secúri ictum íntulit. Tum cicádae et passérculi, refúgium ne excíderet suum, orábant, Et ábstine, quaeso, aiébant, ut in hac árbore cánere, et te, Rústice, delectáre possímus. At ille nihil curans, secúndum ac tértium íntulit vulnus. Ut vero árborem cavávit, apum exámen una cum melle réperit; quo gustáto, secúrim abiécit, plantámque ut sacram cóluit et curávit.
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:
Planta erat
in Rustici agro
fructum non ferens,
sed passerculis solum
et cicadis refugium
praebebat.
Rusticus itaque
ut infructiferam
caedere voluit;
quapropter
sumpta securi
ictum intulit.
Tum cicadae et passerculi,
refugium ne excideret suum,
orabant,
Et abstine, quaeso, aiebant,
ut
in hac arbore canere,
et te, Rustice, delectare
possimus.
At ille
nihil curans,
secundum ac tertium
intulit vulnus.
Ut vero arborem cavavit,
apum examen
una cum melle reperit;
quo gustato,
securim abiecit,
plantamque
ut sacram coluit
et curavit.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source), showing a flock of sparrows (I couldn't find a picture with both sparrows and crickets, alas):
