The Ant and the Grasshopper
And other La Fontaine fables
Jean de la Fontaine is he most famous fabulist in Europe after Aesop, from whom he borrowed extensively. He collected fables from all over the world, and re-wrote them in his own style. He was born in 1621. Although he is principally known for his fables, he was also a poet, playwright and novelist. Interestingly, the expression sour grapes, borrowed from a La Fontaine fox fable, has entered the English language under false pretences. As an example, a competitor losing out who suggests that he was tired, or hinted that their opponent used underhand tactics, is scorned with the epithet sour grapes. The accusation is only applicable when someone badly wants something, fails to get it, and then declares that he did not really want it. Nuance!
Le loup et la cigogne
Les Loups mangent gloutonnement.
Un Loup donc étant de frairie,
Se pressa, dit-on, tellement
Qu'il en pensa perdre la vie.
Un os lui demeura bien avant au gosier.
De bonheur pour ce Loup, qui ne pouvait crier,
Près de là passe une Cigogne.
Il lui fait signe, elle accourt.
Voilà l'Opératrice aussitôt en besogne.
Elle retira l'os ; puis pour un si bon tour
Elle demanda son salaire.
Votre salaire ? dit le Loup :
Vous riez, ma bonne commère.
Quoi ! ce n'est pas encor beaucoup
D'avoir de mon gosier retiré votre cou ?
Allez, vous êtes une ingrate
Ne tombez jamais sous ma patte.
-
The wolf and the stork
Wolves are known to eat greedily.
Having been feasting merrily
And gobbling too hastily
A wolf his life nearly lost
Nearly gave up the ghost
Awe of awe
A bone had got stuck in his craw
As luck would have it, since he had no voice
Rejoice
For, passing by was a stork
Wolfie signals her his woe,
Storkie rushes to the fellow
And in no time gets to work
Extracting the bone, and demanded his fee
You want payment? asks Wolfie
You’re having a laugh, aren’t you Storkie?
Isn’t it more than enough that I kindly let you
Remove your neck from my jaws
Get lost, ingrate before I do you
And avoid coming within reach of my paws
***
La poule aux oeufs d’or
L'Avarice perd tout en voulant tout gagner.
Je ne veux pour le témoigner
Que celui dont la Poule, à ce que dit la fable,
Pondait tous les jours un oeuf d'or.
Il crut que dans son corps elle avait un trésor.
Il la tua, l'ouvrit, et la trouva semblable
A celles dont les oeufs ne lui rapportaient rien,
S'étant lui-même ôté le plus beau de son bien.
Belle leçon pour les gens chiches :
Pendant ces derniers temps, combien en a-t-on vus
Qui du soir au matin sont pauvres devenus
Pour vouloir trop tôt être riches ?
-
The hen that laid golden eggs
Rich men lose all when greed makes them want even more
It suffices to look at the fable old
Of the hen which daily laid an egg made of gold
Man thought that inside her there’d be treasures galore
So he opened her, in an attempt rash and bold
And found her the same as those laying eggs with yolks
Thus the silly ass destroyed his greatest asset
Something which once done could clearly not be offset
Useful lesson can be learnt by rich folks
From night to day how many have we seen
Who overnight became poor when they haven’t been
Resisting scratching the itch
To become more rich
***
Le corbeau et le renard
Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché,
Tenait en son bec un fromage.
Maître Renard, par l’odeur alléché,
Lui tint à peu près ce langage:
“Eh, bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau.
Que vous êtes joli! Que vous me semblez beau!
Sans mentir, si votre ramage
Se rapporte à votre plumage,
Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.”
A ces mots, le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie;
Et pour montrer sa belle voix,
Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie.
Le renard s’en saisit, et dit: “Mon bon monsieur,
Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l’écoute.
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute.”
Le corbeau, honteux et confus,
Jura, mais un peu tard, qu’on ne l’y prendrait plus.
_
The crow and the fox
Brer Bobby Crow, perched on a tree
In his beak an edam or a Brie.
Says wily Willy Fox catching a whiff,
Oh handsome crow,
You’re such a beau
you need no face-lift-
Catch my drift?
For his recherché neologies
He proffers no apologies
In truth sir, if your warblement
Was worth half your feathery garment
You must indubitably,
Be
The phoenix of the hosts of this forest
But, not putting you to the test
Can I beg for a samplement.
Hearing these words, Brer Crow did rejoice
And sets to air his unique voice
Opening wide his beak he drops his cheese
Which wily Willy snaps with ease.
Good sir, he admonished
With a flourish
Know ye that a good listener,
Is in need of a flatterer
Who makes a living by being
A first-class chatterer.
Clearly my lunch was fair payment
For your active enlightenment.
Brer Bobby made a solemn vow
- A bit too late — you will allow
That he’ll never again trip into that slough
***
La cigale et la fourmi
La cigale ayant chanté
Tout l’été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue :
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu’à la saison nouvelle.
« Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l’août, foi d’animal,
Intérêt et principal. »
La fourmi n’est pas prêteuse :
C’est là son moindre défaut.
« Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
— Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.
— Vous chantiez ? J’en suis fort aise :
Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant. »
_
The ant and the grasshopper
Cricket having indulged in song
All summer long
Found himself much deprived
When the cold winds arrived.
Not the smallest herblet
Teeniest tick or wormlet.
He rushed to his neighbour Ant
Begging her to ease her want
Appealing for a wee loan
Of some millet or corn
To keep at bay starvation
Until cometh the new season.
I swear after the harvest
I’ll pay you back with interest.
By nature Ant’s no lender,
God knows she could be kinder.
What? she asked the would-be borrower
Did you do the whole summer?
To one and all, day and night
I sang songs with all my might.
Oh you sang with nonchalance?
Well now’s come the time to dance.
- + + + + +
Divertimento 1
I attempted what I am calling a Caribbean version of the fable as it is reminiscent of the calypso
Da hoppa he sang a’ summa
but when it changed to winta
he found hisself goin’ unda
not the teeniest morsel mista
of fly or wormlet sista.
He went knock a’
de door of ant his neyba
crying I’m dying of hunga
gizza some grub, be my mudda
Will pay you back wiv interest sista
before the next harvest yea.
Da ant as an insect, busta
he ain’t no great lenda
that’s its least defect I tellyea.
What I askya didja
do when da sun he shined bruda?
Wined and dined? didja?
Night and day, blushed da hoppa
we wuz on a benda
merrymakin’ and singin’ wereya?
Well la la di da!
just hop it hoppa
now go dancin’ digga
Divertimento 2
I could not resist the temptation of committing a betrayal with La Fontaine’s .The milkmaid and her pot of milk, and adapted rather than translated it. Further I thought the moral at the end had better be left alone, but I include it in the original, albeit italicised, and add my own ha’penny worth in conclusion.
LA LAITIÈRE ET LE POT AU LAIT
Pierrette, sur sa tête ayant un Pot au lait
Bien posé sur un coussinet,
Prétendait arriver sans encombre à la ville.
Légère et court vêtue elle allait à grands pas ;
Ayant mis ce jour-là pour être plus agile
Cotillon simple, et souliers plats.
Notre Laitière ainsi troussée
Comptait déjà dans sa pensée
Tout le prix de son lait, en employait l’argent,
Achetait un cent d’ oeufs, faisait triple couvée ;
La chose allait à bien par son soin diligent.
Il m’est, disait-elle, facile
D’élever des poulets autour de ma maison :
Le Renard sera bien habile,
S’il ne m’en laisse assez pour avoir un cochon.
Le porc à s’engraisser coûtera peu de son ;
Il était quand je l’eus de grosseur raisonnable ;
J’aurai le revendant de l’argent bel et bon ;
Et qui m’empêchera de mettre en notre étable,
Vu le prix dont il est, une vache et son veau,
Que je verrai sauter au milieu du troupeau ?
Perrette là-dessus saute aussi, transportée.
Le lait tombe ; adieu veau, vache, cochon, couvée ;
La Dame de ces biens, quittant d’un oeil marri
Sa fortune ainsi répandue,
Va s’excuser à son mari
En grand danger d’être battue.
Le récit en farce en fut fait ;
On l’ appela le Pot au lait
Quel esprit ne bat la campagne ?
Qui ne fait châteaux en Espagne ?
Picrochole, Pyrrhus, la Laitière, enfin tous,
Autant les sages que les fous ?
Chacun songe en veillant, il n’est rien de plus doux :
Une flatteuse erreur emporte alors nos âmes :
Tout le bien du monde est à nous,
Tous les honneurs, toutes les femmes.
Quand je suis seul, je fais au plus brave un défi ;
Je m écarte, je vais détrôner le Sophi ;
On m’élit Roi, mon peuple m’aime ;
Les diadèmes vont sur ma tête pleuvant :
Quelque accident fait-il que je rentre en moi-même.
___
An example of the translator’s betrayal
The dairymaid and her milk pot
To Pierrette, the pot nestling on a pad on her head
Contained more than milk that would fetch so much
She didn’t just see it as the means to buy bread
Or peas or spuds, salt and sugar and such and such.
She was a dreamer, was Pierrette, she imagined
She imagined better things and she grinned.
One day she would have her own goats and cows
And red windows and green doors on her house.
And she knew how to do it, she had her own plan
With a plan in your head, with a plan you can
You can make two quarters equal to one.
She saw herself walking proudly into town
Her pot full of the future, not just cow’s milk
She saw her mended petticoat as if made of silk.
Her hopes had acquired fast sinewy legs
The milk sold, she’d buy no less than a hundred eggs.
These she’d hatch, she’d need three sittings
She’d fight fox and furies to fatten her chicklings.
At first sweet and tiny, then with care so plump and big
She’d then sell them and buy, to fatten, a small pig
She’d then sell the swine for a good price and a half
And use the profit to buy a cow and a calf.
I can see them, smell them she says to herself
My pockets and purses will be full of pelf.
It’s too much, too much, I now have a flock of cattle
To feed them I’ll buy cartfuls of acacia wattle
Out of my way Claribel, shoo shoo Shamrock
Says Pierrette as she actually sees her whole flock
But Shamrock to Mistress Pierrette pays no heed
To avoid him, she jumps, knocks together her feet
Falls down, her milk pot crashing on the ground.
Adieu chicks and pig, farewell cows and house
*
What they knew not, Monsieur de La Fontaine and Kyrios Aesop
Was that Pierrette was not going to let herself be defined by one flop
