L'Ours et les deux Compagnons.

 

Deux compagnons pressés d'argent
A leur voisin Fourreur vendirent
La peau d'un Ours encor vivant,
Mais qu'ils tueraient bientôt, du moins à ce qu'ils dirent.
C'était le Roi des Ours au compte de ces gens.
Le Marchand à sa peau devait faire fortune.
Elle garantirait des froids les plus cuisants,
On en pourrait fourrer plutôt deux robes qu'une.
Dindenaut prisait moins ses Moutons qu'eux leur Ours :
Leur, à leur compte, et non à celui de la Bête.
S'offrant de la livrer au plus tard dans deux jours,
Ils conviennent de prix, et se mettent en quête,
Trouvent l'Ours qui s'avance, et vient vers eux au trot.
Voilà mes gens frappés comme d'un coup de foudre.
Le marché ne tint pas ; il fallut le résoudre :
D'intérêts contre l'Ours, on n'en dit pas un mot.
L'un des deux Compagnons grimpe au faîte d'un arbre ;
L'autre, plus froid que n'est un marbre,
Se couche sur le nez, fait le mort, tient son vent,
Ayant quelque part ouï dire
Que l'Ours s'acharne peu souvent
Sur un corps qui ne vit, ne meut, ni ne respire.
Seigneur Ours, comme un sot, donna dans ce panneau.
Il voit ce corps gisant, le croit privé de vie,
Et de peur de supercherie
Le tourne, le retourne, approche son museau,
Flaire aux passages de l'haleine.
C'est, dit-il, un cadavre ; Otons-nous, car il sent.
A ces mots, l'Ours s'en va dans la forêt prochaine.
L'un de nos deux Marchands de son arbre descend,
Court à son compagnon, lui dit que c'est merveille
Qu'il n'ait eu seulement que la peur pour tout mal.
Eh bien, ajouta-t-il, la peau de l'animal ?
Mais que t'a-t-il dit à l'oreille ?
Car il s'approchait de bien près,
Te retournant avec sa serre.
- Il m'a dit qu'il ne faut jamais.
Vendre la peau de l'Ours qu'on ne l'ait mis par terre.

The Bear and two compagnions. (24)

 

Two fellows, needing funds, and bold,
A bearskin to a furrier sold,
Of which the bear was living still,
But which they presently would kill--
At least they said they would.
And, if their word was good,
It was a king of bears--an Ursa Major--
The biggest bear beneath the sun.
Its skin, the chaps would wager,
Was cheap at double cost;
'Twould make one laugh at frost--
And make two robes as well as one.
Old Dindenaut,[25] in sheep who dealt,
Less prized his sheep, than they their pelt--
(In their account 'twas theirs,
But in his own, the bears.)
By bargain struck upon the skin,
Two days at most must bring it in.
Forth went the two. More easy found than got,
The bear came growling at them on the trot.
Behold our dealers both confounded,
As if by thunderbolt astounded!
Their bargain vanish'd suddenly in air;
For who could plead his interest with a bear?
One of the friends sprung up a tree;
The other, cold as ice could be,
Fell on his face, feign'd death,
And closely held his breath,--
He having somewhere heard it said
The bear ne'er preys upon the dead.
Sir Bear, sad blockhead, was deceived--
The prostrate man a corpse believed;
But, half suspecting some deceit,
He feels and snuffs from head to feet,
And in the nostrils blows.
The body's surely dead, he thinks.
'I'll leave it,' says he, 'for it stinks;'
And off into the woods he goes.
The other dealer, from his tree
Descending cautiously, to see
His comrade lying in the dirt,
Consoling, says, 'It is a wonder
That, by the monster forced asunder,
We're, after all, more scared than hurt.
But,' addeth he, 'what of the creature's skin?
He held his muzzle very near;
What did he whisper in your ear?'
'He gave this caution,--"Never dare
Again to sell the skin of bear
Its owner has not ceased to wear."'[26]

[24] Versions will be found in Aesop, Avianus, and Abstemius.
[25] _Old Dindenaut_.--_Vide_ Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, Book IV. chap. viii.--Translator.
The character in Rabelais is a sheep-stealer as well as a sheep-dealer.
[26] According to Philip de Commines, the Emperor Frederic III. of Germany used a story conveying the substance of this fable, with its moral of _Never sell your bear-skin till the beast is dead_, as his sole reply to the ambassadors of the French king when that monarch sent him proposals for dividing between them the provinces of the Duke of Burgundy. The meaning of which was, says de Commines, "That if the King came according to his promise, they would take the Duke, if they could; and when he was taken, they would talk of dividing his dominions."--_Vide_ Bohn's edition of the "Memoirs of De Commines," vol. i., p. 246.

L'Orso e i due Compari.

 

Ad un vicin mercato due Compari,
a corto di denari,
vendettero d'un grande Orso la pelle,
d'un Orso, ben inteso,
che non aveano ucciso ancor né preso.

A sentirli, degli orsi era il campione,
e la pelle soltanto una fortuna
da foderar non una,
ma due zimarre contro il più ribelle
freddo della stagione.

Prometton che in due dì saranno pronti
la pelle a consegnar, non altrimenti
che la pelle trattassero d'un fico.
E senza fare i conti
coll'Orso, vanno in traccia dell'amico.

Vanno, ed ecco che subito si affaccia
la belva che galoppa e mostra i denti.
Contratto addio! non è quello il momento
di far affari colla bestïaccia,
ma di scappar... e scappan come il vento.

L'uno svelto s'arrampica su un albero,
l'altro si butta in terra colla faccia,
e fa il morto, non fiata, avendo udito
che l'orso con chi puzza di cadavere
di rado si è mostrato inferocito.

- Puzza da morto, andiamo, -
disse l'Orso e nel bosco si rintana.
Un degli amici scende allor dal ramo
e coll'altro di cuore si congratula
che ancor la sia passata così piana.

- E non t'ha della pelle anche discorso
quando il muso all'orecchio avvicinò?
- No, no, ma disse, se non ho frainteso,
che non bisogna vendere dell'orso
la pelle mai prima d'averlo preso.