Conseil tenu par les Rats.

 

Un Chat, nommé Rodilardus
Faisait des Rats telle déconfiture
Que l'on n'en voyait presque plus,
Tant il en avait mis dedans la sépulture.
Le peu qu'il en restait, n'osant quitter son trou,
Ne trouvait à manger que le quart de son sou,
Et Rodilard passait, chez la gent misérable,
Non pour un Chat, mais pour un Diable.
Or un jour qu'au haut et au loin
Le galant alla chercher femme,
Pendant tout le sabbat qu'il fit avec sa Dame,
Le demeurant des Rats tint chapitre en un coin
Sur la nécessité présente.
Dès l'abord, leur Doyen, personne fort prudente,
Opina qu'il fallait, et plus tôt que plus tard,
Attacher un grelot au cou de Rodilard ;
Qu'ainsi, quand il irait en guerre,
De sa marche avertis, ils s'enfuiraient en terre ;
Qu'il n'y savait que ce moyen.
Chacun fut de l'avis de Monsieur le Doyen,
Chose ne leur parut à tous plus salutaire.
La difficulté fut d'attacher le grelot.
L'un dit : "Je n'y vas point, je ne suis pas si sot";
L'autre : "Je ne saurais."Si bien que sans rien faire
On se quitta. J'ai maints Chapitres vus,
Qui pour néant se sont ainsi tenus ;
Chapitres, non de Rats, mais Chapitres de Moines,
Voire chapitres de Chanoines.
Ne faut-il que délibérer,
La Cour en Conseillers foisonne ;
Est-il besoin d'exécuter,
L'on ne rencontre plus personne.

The concil held by the rats. (4)

 

Old Rodilard,[5] a certain cat,
Such havoc of the rats had made,
'Twas difficult to find a rat
With nature's debt unpaid.
The few that did remain,
To leave their holes afraid,
From usual food abstain,
Not eating half their fill.
And wonder no one will
That one who made of rats his revel,
With rats pass'd not for cat, but devil.
Now, on a day, this dread rat-eater,
Who had a wife, went out to meet her;
And while he held his caterwauling,
The unkill'd rats, their chapter calling,
Discuss'd the point, in grave debate,
How they might shun impending fate.
Their dean, a prudent rat,
Thought best, and better soon than late,
To bell the fatal cat;
That, when he took his hunting round,
The rats, well caution'd by the sound,
Might hide in safety under ground;
Indeed he knew no other means.
And all the rest
At once confess'd
Their minds were with the dean's.
No better plan, they all believed,
Could possibly have been conceived,
No doubt the thing would work right well,
If any one would hang the bell.
But, one by one, said every rat,
'I'm not so big a fool as that.'
The plan, knock'd up in this respect,
The council closed without effect.

And many a council I have seen,
Or reverend chapter with its dean,
That, thus resolving wisely,
Fell through like this precisely.

To argue or refute
Wise counsellors abound;
The man to execute
Is harder to be found.

[4] Faerno and Abstemius both have fables upon this subject. Gabriel Faerno (1500-1561) was an Italian writer who published fables in Latin. Perrault translated these into French verse, and published them at Paris in 1699. Faerno was also a famous editor of Terence.
Laurentius Abstemius, or Astemio, was an Italian fabulist of the fifteenth century. After their first publication his fables often appeared in editions of Aesop.
[5] _Rodilard_.--The name no doubt taken from the famous cat Rodilardus (bacon-gnawer), in Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, IV., ch. LXVII.

Il Consiglio dei Topi.

 

Un Gatto, che diceano il Mangialardo,
facea dei Topi un così gran macello,
e tanti nell'avello
n'avea sospinti e sbigottiti tanti,
che i pochi vivi ancora
non osavano il muso cacciar fuora.

Quatti nei buchi sen morian di fame,
tanta paura avean di quel, non gatto,
ma carnefice infame.
Un giorno tuttavia, colto il momento
che il gatto andò a far visita all'amante
e stette in alto tutta la giornata,
si radunano i Topi a parlamento.

Il presidente, ch'era una persona
di gran senno, propose, e parve bello
a tutti il suo consiglio,
che si attaccasse al gatto un campanello,
un campanel che suona
e dia l'avviso ai Topi di fuggire,
quando il nemico accenna di venire.

- Bravo, bene, benissimo! - Ciascuno
approva la mozione.
Ma quando si trattò di sceglier quello
che attaccare doveva il campanello,
non si trovò nessuno.
O fossi matto... io no... fossi corbello...
Vedendo ch'era chiacchiera perduta,
il presidente leva la seduta.

Ho veduto qualche altro parlamento,
(non di topi) e qualche altra commissione
che venne alla precisa conclusione.
A ciarlar son bravi in cento,
ma diverso è ben l'affare
quando trattasi di fare.