Leo et Pastor (Nequam)

Source: The fables of the medieval scholar and poet Alexander Nequam are available in several different editions at GoogleBooks.

Other Versions: See Perry 563 for other versions of "Androcles and the Lion."

Nequam 20: DE LEONE ET PASTORE

Calcata leo stirpe pedem · sibi laeserat unum;
pastoris supplex || auxilium petiit.
Horrendum cernens · pastor feritate leonem,
adventante, timet || et pecudes obicit.
Non curat leo, sed gestu · vultuque benigno
blande pro verbis || anxius orat opem,
Extensumque pedem · laesum docet esse gemendo.
Rem noscens aperit || ulcera pastor acu;
Stirpeque detracta, · saniem cum stirpe repellit.
Gaudens optatam || tunc leo sensit opem,
Pastorisque manum, · quasi traderet oscula, lingens
grates non cessat || reddere quas poterat.
Inde redit sanus. · Longo post tempore captus,
ad theatri ludos || venditur ipse leo.
Pastor erat per tempus idem · pro crimine captus;
damnatus, theatri || traditur ille feris.
Accurrens leo novit eum, · gressumque repressit
et blandum multis || se docet esse modis;
Assidet huic, lingitque manus, · miranteque turba,
defendit reliquas || inde fugando feras.
Admirans, causam · plebs ab pastore requirit;
quaerenti pastor || ordine cuncta refert.
Confestim plebis pietas · dimisit utrumque;
gratia sic factis || redditur obsequiis.
Hoc collatorum · memores nos esse bonorum
admonet, et laeta || mente referre vicem.

Prose paraphrase:

Leo,
stirpe calcata,
pedem unum sibi laeserat;
supplex
pastoris auxilium petiit.
Pastor,
leonem, feritate horrendum, cernens,
timet
et, adventante, pecudes obicit.
Leo
non curat,
sed gestu et vultu benigno,
pro verbis
anxius
opem blande orat,
et gemendo docet
pedem extensum laesum esse.
Pastor,
rem noscens,
acu ulcera aperit;
et, stirpe detracta,
saniem cum stirpe repellit.
Tunc leo, gaudens,
opem optatam sensit,
et pastoris manum lingens,
quasi oscula traderet,
non cessat
reddere grates,
quas poterat.
Inde sanus redit.
Post tempore longo
ipse leo,
captus,
ad theatri ludos venditur.
Per tempus idem
pastor captus erat
pro crimine;
ille, damnatus,
theatri feris traditur.
Leo, accurrens,
eum novit,
et gressum repressit
et docet
modis multis
se blandum esse;
assidet huic,
et manus lingit,
turba mirante,
et defendit
feras reliquas inde fugando,.
Plebs, admirans,
ab pastore
causam requirit;
pastor
quaerenti refert
ordine cuncta.
Confestim
plebis pietas
utrumque dimisit;
sic factis obsequiis
gratia redditur .
Hoc nos admonet
bonorum collatorum
memores esse,
et laeta mente vicem referre.

NoDictionaries.com: You can find the word list for this fable online, and use it interactively! The word list is not displaying the basic meaning of stirps as plant, root, stem, etc. - and here in this poem it seems to mean specifically a thorn or spiky stem. In addition, the word list doesn't recognize that uterque is a single word, meaning "both, each of two" (it recognizes it instead as two words, uter plus que, which is not correct).

Image. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a Renaissance edition of Aesop:

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