The First Little Red Riding Hood from 1000 Years Ago! - Video

This my own translation of "De puella a lupellis servata," a poem written by the scholar Egbert of Liège 1000 years ago. It tells of a girl given a red tunic by her godfather on her baptismal day, and what happens when some wolves go after her while she is wearing it.

In my translation of this text, I have tried to preserve as much of the literal meaning of the poem as possible while trying to respect its structure of 14 syllables per line. As it did not rhyme in a conventional sense, I chose to include some alliteration to give it a more poetic feel. Here is the original Latin text of the poem:

Quod refero, mecum pagenses dicere norunt,
Et non tam mirum quam ualde est credere uerum:
Quidam suscepit sacro de fonte puellam,
Cui dedit et tunicam rubicundo uellere textam.
Quinquagesima sancta fuit babtismatis huius,
Sole sub exorto quinquennis facta puella;
Progreditur uagabunda sui inmemor atque pericli,
Quam lupus inuadens siluestria lustra petiuit
Et catulis predam tulit atque reliquit edendam.
Qui simul aggressi, cum iam lacerare nequirent,
Ceperunt mulcere caput feritate remota
"Hanc tunicam, mures, nolite," infantula dixit,
"Scindere, quam dedit excipiens de fonte patrinus!"
Mitigat inmites animos deus, auctor eorum.

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