Archive for the ‘Jean de La Fontaine’ Category
La Cigale et la Fourmi
Posted on: April 12, 2008
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. »
English
The Cricket and the Ant
translation by Don Webb
The cricket had sung her song
all summer long
but found her victuals too few
when the north wind blew.
Nowhere could she espy
a single morsel of worm or fly.
Her neighbor, the ant, might,
she thought, help her in her plight,
and she begged her for a little grain
till summer would come back again.
“By next August I’ll repay both
Interest and principal; animal’s oath.”
Now, the ant may have a fault or two
But lending is not something she will do.
She asked what the cricket did in summer.
“By night and day, to any comer
I sang whenever I had the chance.”
“You sang, did you? That’s nice. Now dance.”
La Cigale et la Fourmi
Posted on: April 12, 2008
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La Cigale, ayant chanté
Tout l’été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue:
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouch ou devermisseau.
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. »
English
The cicada, having sung
All summer,
Was extremely deprived
When the north wind came:
Not one small piece
Of fly or small worm.
She went to plead famine
At the house of her neighbor the Ant,
Asking him to lend her
Some grain to survive
Until the new season.
“I will pay you,” she says to him,
“Before August, faith of animal,
Interest and the principal”
The Ant is not a lender:
That is its least defect.
“What did you do in warm weather?”
He says to the borrower.
“Night and day all came
I sang, not displeasing you.”
“You sang? I am relieved.
Well! Dance now.”
Greierele şi furnica
Posted on: April 12, 2008
Petrecuse cu chitara
toată vara.
Însă iată că-ntr-o zi
când viforniţa porni,
Greierele se trezi
fără muscă , fără râmă,
fără umbră de fărâmă.
Ce să facă?…Hai să ceară
la Furnică, pân’ la vară,
niscai boabe de secară.
-“Pe cuvânt de lighioană,
voi plăti cinstit cucoană,
cu dobânzi, cu tot ce vrei!…”
Dar Furnica, harnică,
are un ponos al ei:
nu-i din fire darnică
şi-i răspunde cam răstit:
-Astă-vară ce-ai păţit?
-Dacă nu e cu bănat.
zi şi noapte am cântat
pentru mine, pentru toţi…
-„Joacă astăzi dacă poţi!”
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