Le Loup et les Bergers.

 

Un Loup rempli d'humanité
(S'il en est de tels dans le monde)
Fit un jour sur sa cruauté,
Quoiqu'il ne l'exerçât que par nécessité,
Une réflexion profonde.
Je suis haï, dit-il, et de qui ? De chacun.
Le Loup est l'ennemi commun :
Chiens, chasseurs, villageois, s'assemblent pour sa perte.
Jupiter est là-haut étourdi de leurs cris ;
C'est par là que de loups l'Angleterre est déserte :
On y mit notre tête à prix.
Il n'est hobereau qui ne fasse
Contre nous tels bans publier ;
Il n'est marmot osant crier
Que du Loup aussitôt sa mère ne menace.
Le tout pour un Ane rogneux,
Pour un Mouton pourri, pour quelque Chien hargneux,
Dont j'aurai passé mon envie.
Et bien, ne mangeons plus de chose ayant eu vie ;
Paissons l'herbe, broutons ; mourons de faim plutôt.
Est-ce une chose si cruelle ?
Vaut-il mieux s'attirer la haine universelle ?
Disant ces mots il vit des Bergers pour leur rôt
Mangeants un agneau cuit en broche.
Oh, oh, dit-il, je me reproche
Le sang de cette gent. Voilà ses gardiens
S'en repaissants, eux et leurs chiens ;
Et moi, Loup, j'en ferai scrupule ?
Non, par tous les Dieux. Non. Je serais ridicule.
Thibaut l'agnelet passera
Sans qu'à la broche je le mette ;
Et non seulement lui, mais la mère qu'il tette,
Et le père qui l'engendra.
Ce Loup avait raison. Est-il dit qu'on nous voie
Faire festin de toute proie,
Manger les animaux, et nous les réduirons
Aux mets de l'âge d'or autant que nous pourrons ?
Ils n'auront ni croc ni marmite ?
Bergers, bergers, le loup n'a tort
Que quand il n'est pas le plus fort :
Voulez-vous qu'il vive en ermite ?

 

 

The Wolf and the Shepherds. (10)

 

A Wolf, replete
With humanity sweet,
(A trait not much suspected,)
On his cruel deeds,
The fruit of his needs,
Profoundly thus reflected.

'I'm hated,' said he,
'As joint enemy,
By hunters, dogs, and clowns.
They swear I shall die,
And their hue and cry
The very thunder drowns.

'My brethren have fled,
With price on the head,
From England's merry land.
King Edgar came out,
And put them to rout,[11]
With many a deadly band.

'And there's not a squire
But blows up the fire
By hostile proclamation;
Nor a human brat,
Dares cry, but that
Its mother mocks my nation.

'And all for what?
For a sheep with the rot,
Or scabby, mangy ass,
Or some snarling cur,
With less meat than fur,
On which I've broken fast!

'Well, henceforth I'll strive
That nothing alive
Shall die to quench my thirst;
No lambkin shall fall,
Nor puppy, at all,
To glut my maw accurst.
With grass I'll appease,
Or browse on the trees,
Or die of famine first.

'What of carcass warm?
Is it worth the storm
Of universal hate?'
As he spoke these words,
The lords of the herds,
All seated at their bait,
He saw; and observed
The meat which was served
Was nought but roasted lamb!
'O! O!' said the beast,
'Repent of my feast--
All butcher as I am--
On these vermin mean,
Whose guardians e'en
Eat at a rate quadruple!--
Themselves and their dogs,
As greedy as hogs,
And I, a wolf, to scruple!'

'Look out for your wool
I'll not be a fool,
The very pet I'll eat;
The lamb the best-looking,
Without any cooking,
I'll strangle from the teat;
And swallow the dam,
As well as the lamb,
And stop her foolish bleat.
Old Hornie, too,--rot him,--
The sire that begot him
Shall be among my meat!'

Well-reasoning beast!
Were we sent to feast
On creatures wild and tame?
And shall we reduce
The beasts to the use
Of vegetable game?

Shall animals not
Have flesh-hook or pot,
As in the age of gold?
And we claim the right,
In the pride of our might,
Themselves to have and hold?
O shepherds, that keep
Your folds full of sheep,
The wolf was only wrong,
Because, so to speak,
His jaws were too weak
To break your palings strong.

[10] Founded upon one of Philibert Hegemon's Fables.
[11] King Edgar put them to rout. The English king Edgar (reigned 959-75) took great pains in hunting and pursuing wolves; "and," says Hume, "when he found that all that escaped him had taken shelter in the mountains and forests of Wales, he changed the tribute of money imposed on the Welsh princes by Athelstan, his predecessor, into an annual tribute of three hundred heads of wolves; which produced such diligence in hunting them, that the animal has been no more seen in this island."Hume's England, vol. 1., p. 99, Bell's edit., 1854.

Il Lupo e i Pastori.

 

Un giorno un Lupo pien d'umanità
(se alcun ve n'ha)
crudele sì, ma per necessità,
fece una riflessione assai severa
sul suo brutto carattere di fiera.

- Ognun, - diss'egli, - ognuno mi vuol male,
e cani e cacciatori e villanzoni
congiuran contro un povero animale
e innalzan orazioni
a Giove che lo cacci dalla terra,
come si sa che ha fatto in Inghilterra.

Mettono il pelo e la mia vita a prezzo,
e non c'è signorotto di campagna
che non bandisca il lupo con disprezzo,
ne bimbo c'è che strilli un poco o piagna
a cui la mamma non ricordi il cupo
nome del lupo.

E tutto ciò per qualche asin tignoso,
per qualche agnello mezzo incancrenito,
per qualche can rabbioso,
che non aguzzan manco l'appetito.
Ebbene d'ora innanzi e carne ed ossa
di vivi fo solenne giuramento
di non mangiare, ma insalate e strame
ed erbe sole, o possa
prima morir di fame -.

Mentre egli giura vede dei pastori
che stan mangiando un povero agnellino
cotto allo spiedo. - Ah! Ah!
Questi bravi signori,
che parlan della mia crudelità,
sanno gustare il ghiotto bocconcino!
Ben s'impinzan la pancia essi ed i cani,
ed io che sono il lupo
starò digiuno e avrò rispetti umani?

No, per tutti gli dèi! Sarei corbello
a farmene un riguardo,
ben venga dunque in bocca
agnellin, agnelletto, agnella e agnello
e quanti son di questa gente sciocca:
sian essi crudi o cotti non ci guardo -.

Avea ragione il Lupo. È stravaganza
pretendere che, mentre l'uom ghiottone
e cena e pranza
mangiando gli animali, i poveretti
abbiano a lesinare sul boccone.

Vogliam serbare a loro
soltanto a loro dell'età dell'oro
i cibi duri e schietti?
Non han stoviglie e spiedi ed istrumenti?
Ma il lupo non ha torto ed alla vita
non si rassegna ancor dell'eremita,
se può mostrare i denti.