Monēdula animadvertēns victum abundantem columbārum, cērussā oblinit nīgrōrem suum, et adiungit sē columbīs. Hae sēcum illam cibum capere dōnec tacuit, facile passae; postquam crocitantem audīvēre, irruunt in eam et abigunt dē columbarī. Tum revertitur ad monēdulās quae albātam hanc ut aliēnam avem et ipsae exclūdunt. Ita quae nōn contenta suā forte meliōrem secūta fuerat, utrīusque vītae commoda āmīsit.
SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies Camerarius's edition of the Aesopic corpus; the 1571 edition of Camerariu's Aesop is available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 100 in Camerarius; for other versions, see Perry 129.
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 animadvértens victum abundántem columbárum, cerússa óblinit nigrórem suum, et adiúngit se colúmbis. Hae secum illam cibum cápere donec tácuit, fácile passae; postquam crocitántem audivére, írruunt in eam et ábigunt de columbári. Tum revértitur ad monédulas quae albátam hanc ut aliénam avem et ipsae exclúdunt. Ita quae non conténta sua forte meliórem secúta fúerat, utriúsque vitae cómmoda amísit.
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
animadvertens
victum abundantem columbarum,
cerussa
oblinit nigrorem suum,
et adiungit se columbis.
Hae
secum illam
cibum capere
donec tacuit,
facile passae;
postquam
crocitantem audivere,
irruunt in eam
et abigunt de columbari.
Tum
revertitur ad monedulas
quae
albatam hanc
ut alienam avem
et ipsae excludunt.
Ita
quae
non contenta sua forte
meliorem secuta fuerat,
utriusque vitae commoda
amisit.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration from the Medici Aesop, which is online at the New York Public Library website.
