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Proofreading requested
Original lyrics
Le Loup et l'Agneau
La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure :
Nous l’allons montrer tout à l’heure.
Un Agneau se désaltérait
Dans le courant d’une onde pure.
Un Loup survient à jeun qui cherchait aventure,
Et que la faim en ces lieux attirait.
Qui te rend si hardi de troubler mon breuvage ?
Dit cet animal plein de rage :
Tu seras châtié de ta témérité.
– Sire, répond l’Agneau, que votre Majesté
Ne se mette pas en colère ;
Mais plutôt qu’elle considère
Que je me vas désaltérant
Dans le courant,
Plus de vingt pas au-dessous d’Elle,
Et que par conséquent, en aucune façon,
Je ne puis troubler sa boisson.
– Tu la troubles, reprit cette bête cruelle,
Et je sais que de moi tu médis l’an passé.
– Comment l’aurais-je fait si je n’étais pas né ?
Reprit l’Agneau, je tète encor ma mère.
– Si ce n’est toi, c’est donc ton frère.
– Je n’en ai point. – C’est donc quelqu’un des tiens :
Car vous ne m’épargnez guère,
Vous, vos bergers, et vos chiens.
On me l’a dit : il faut que je me venge.
Là-dessus, au fond des forêts
Le Loup l’emporte, et puis le mange,
Sans autre forme de procès.
Last edited by Valeriu Raut on 2020-05-19
Translation
The Wolf and the Lamb
The reason of those best able
to have their way is always the best:
We now show how this is true.
A lamb was quenching its thirst
In the water of a pure stream.
A fasting wolf came by, looking for something;
He was attracted by hunger to this place.
- What makes you so bold as to meddle with my drinking?
Said this animal, very angry.
You will be punished for your boldness.
- Sir, answered the lamb, let Your Majesty
Not put himself into a rage;
But rather, let him consider
That I am taking a drink of water
In the stream
More than twenty steps below him;
And that, consequently, in no way,
Am I troubling his supply.
- You do trouble it, answered the cruel beast.
And I know you said bad things of me last year.
- How could I do that when I wasn't born,
Answered the lamb; I am still at my mother's breast.
- If it wasn't you, then it was your brother.
- I haven't a brother. - It was then someone close to you;
For you have no sympathy for me,
You, your shepherds and your dogs.
I have been told of this: I have to make things even.
Saying this, into the woods
The wolf carries the lamb, and then eats him
Without any other why or wherefore.
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Submitted by Valeriu Raut on 2017-09-19
Author's comments:
Translation by Eli Siegel
Translation source:
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Jean de La Fontaine: Top 3
1. | La Cigale et la Fourmi |
2. | Le Corbeau et le Renard |
3. | Le Loup et l'Agneau |
Idioms from "Le Loup et l'Agneau"
1. | La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure. |
2. | the wolf and the lamb |
Comments
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Name: Vale
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Les Fables de La Fontaine (1668)
Orthographe modernisée. / Modernised spelling.