Rana,

paludibus valedicens,

novo vivendi genere acquisito,

in silvam

gloriabunda sese tulit

et, bestiarum coronis circumstipata,

medicinae artem

publice profitebatur,

et in herbis,

quae ad corpora curanda pertinent,

nobiliorem

se

vel Galeno vel Hippocrate

esse

clamitabat.

Credula Bestiarum gens

fidem facile adhibebat,

Vulpe solummodo excepta,

quae

sic glorianti irridebat:

"Insulsum vagumque animal!

Quid tam vana blatteras?

Quid artem nobilem

prae te fers,

quam minime calles?

Livida pallidaque illa tua labra

respice!

Quin domi abi

et teipsum cura,

medice!

Deinde

ad nos redeas,

meliora forsan

de te speraturos."

Nihil respondente Rana

sed tacitis secum gemente suspiriis,

tota Bestiarum cachinnis resonabat silva.

In the 15th-century English version of this fable by William Caxton, the moral of the story is: "The leche whiche wylle hele somme other ought fyrste to hele hym self," which means, in modern English spelling: "The leech which will heal some other ought first to heal himself."