Pūlex sīc ōlim Bovem interrogāvit. Quid causae est, quod tū, quī tam magnus ac fortis es, hominibus quotīdiē īnserviās, dum egō eōrum carnēs ācriter vellicō, et sanguinem hiantī ōre bibō? Egō, bōs ait, in hominum genus ingrātus nōn sum; ipsī enim ingentī amōre atque benevolentia continuō mē excipiunt, ac frequenter mihi frontem atque humerōs fricant. Tum Pūlex ad haec rēspondēns, At mihi, ait, miserō contrārium fit; nam sī ab illīs egō fricārer, id mihi mortem fūnestissimam comparāret.
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 382 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 273.
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):
Pulex sic olim Bovem interrogávit. Quid causae est, quod tu, qui tam magnus ac fortis es, homínibus quotídie insérvias, dum ego eórum carnes ácriter véllico, et sánguinem hiánti ore bibo? Ego, bos ait, in hóminum genus ingrátus non sum; ipsi enim ingénti amóre atque benevoléntia contínuo me excípiunt, ac frequénter mihi frontem atque húmeros fricant. Tum Pulex ad haec respóndens, At mihi, ait, mísero contrárium fit; nam si ab illis ego fricárer, id mihi mortem funestíssimam comparáret.
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:
Pulex sic olim
Bovem interrogavit.
Quid causae est,
quod tu,
qui
tam magnus ac fortis es,
hominibus
quotidie inservias,
dum ego
eorum carnes acriter vellico,
et sanguinem
hianti ore bibo?
Ego, bos ait,
in hominum genus
ingratus non sum;
ipsi enim
ingenti amore atque benevolentia
continuo me excipiunt,
ac frequenter
mihi frontem atque humeros
fricant.
Tum Pulex
ad haec respondens,
At mihi, ait, misero
contrarium fit;
nam si ab illis ego fricarer,
id
mihi mortem funestissimam
compararet.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) showing a seriously blood-sucking flea:
