Les Deux Chèvres.

 

Dès que les Chèvres ont brouté,
Certain esprit de liberté
Leur fait chercher fortune ; elles vont en voyage
Vers les endroits du pâturage
Les moins fréquentés des humains.
Là s'il est quelque lieu sans route et sans chemins,
Un rocher, quelque mont pendant en précipices,
C'est où ces Dames vont promener leurs caprices ;
Rien ne peut arrêter cet animal grimpant.
Deux Chèvres donc s'émancipant,
Toutes deux ayant patte blanche,
Quittèrent les bas prés, chacune de sa part.
L'une vers l'autre allait pour quelque bon hasard.
Un ruisseau se rencontre, et pour pont une planche.
Deux Belettes à peine auraient passé de front
Sur ce pont ;
D'ailleurs, l'onde rapide et le ruisseau profond
Devaient faire trembler de peur ces Amazones.
Malgré tant de dangers, l'une de ces personnes
Pose un pied sur la planche, et l'autre en fait autant.
Je m'imagine voir avec Louis le Grand
Philippe Quatre qui s'avance
Dans l'île de la Conférence.
Ainsi s'avançaient pas à pas,
Nez à nez, nos Aventurières,
Qui, toutes deux étant fort fières,
Vers le milieu du pont ne se voulurent pas
L'une à l'autre céder. Elles avaient la gloire
De compter dans leur race (à ce que dit l'Histoire)
L'une certaine Chèvre au mérite sans pair
Dont Polyphème fit présent à Galatée,
Et l'autre la chèvre Amalthée,
Par qui fut nourri Jupiter.
Faute de reculer, leur chute fut commune ;
Toutes deux tombèrent dans l'eau.
Cet accident n'est pas nouveau
Dans le chemin de la Fortune.

 

 

The Two Goats. (6)

 

Since goats have browsed, by freedom fired,
To follow fortune they've aspired.
To pasturage they're wont to roam
Where men are least disposed to come.
If any pathless place there be,
Or cliff, or pendent precipice,
'Tis there they cut their capers free:
There's nought can stop these dames, I wis.
Two goats, thus self-emancipated,--
The white that on their feet they wore
Look'd back to noble blood of yore,--
Once quit the lowly meadows, sated,
And sought the hills, as it would seem:
In search of luck, by luck they met
Each other at a mountain stream.
As bridge a narrow plank was set,
On which, if truth must be confest,
Two weasels scarce could go abreast.
And then the torrent, foaming white,
As down it tumbled from the height,
Might well those Amazons affright.
But maugre such a fearful rapid,
Both took the bridge, the goats intrepid!
I seem to see our Louis Grand[7]
And Philip IV. advance
To the Isle of Conference,[8]
That lies 'twixt Spain and France,
Each sturdy for his glorious land.
Thus each of our adventurers goes,
Till foot to foot, and nose to nose,
Somewhere about the midst they meet,
And neither will an inch retreat.
For why? they both enjoy'd the glory
Of ancestors in ancient story.
The one, a goat of peerless rank,
Which, browsing on Sicilian bank,
The Cyclop gave to Galataea;[9]
The other famous Amalthaea,[10]
The goat that suckled Jupiter,
As some historians aver.
For want of giving back, in troth,
A common fall involved them both.--
A common accident, no doubt,
On Fortune's changeful route.[11]

[6] This and several others of the fables in the XIIth Book are taken from the "Thèmes" of the Duke de Bourgogne, afterwards published in Robert's "Fables Inédites." These "Thèmes," were the joint composition of Félon, his pupil the infant Duke de Bourgogne, and La Fontaine, and were first used in the education of the Duke.
Félon suggested the story, the pupil put it into prose, and La Fontaine versified it. La Fontaine is eulogistic of the young Duke's "wit" in putting these "Thèmes" into prose in Fable IX., Book XII.
[7] Louis Grand.--Louis XIV. See note to Epilogue of Book XI.
[8] The Isle of Conference.--The Pheasants' Isle in the river Bidassoa, which separates France and Spain. It is called the Isle of Conference on account of several of the Conferences, leading to Treaties, &c., between the two countries, having been held there.
[9] The Cyclop gave to Galataea_.--Polyphemus and Galataea: vide Theocritus, Idyl_ XI.
[10] Amalthaea.--Another story is that Amalthaea was not a goat, but a nymph of Crete, who fed the infant Jupiter with goat's milk.
[11] In the original the last lines differ from those in the version of La Fontaine's "Oeuvres Posthumes," published in 1696, the year after the poet's death. Indeed, variations of text are common to most of the fables of the XIIth Book, on making the same comparison, viz., of the first edition, 1694, and the edition in the "Oeuvres Posthumes."

Le due Capre.

 

Quand'han mangiato, tratte da uno spirito
di libertà, le Capre ecco si sbandano
qua e là su per le bricche più deserte
in cerca di fortuna.
In luoghi senza strade e su per l'erte
rocce e su balze aeree,
che a vederle ti metton raccapriccio,
vanno queste signore ad una ad una
senza paura a spasso per capriccio.

Due Capre dal piedin sottile e candido,
ciascuna per suo conto, in luoghi andavano
tranquilli ed isolati dalla gente,
quando il caso le fece viso a viso
incontrarsi sul ponte d'un torrente
fatto d'un'asse sì meschina e stretta,
che a stento vi passava, io son d'avviso,
non che due grosse capre, una capretta.

Aggiungete che l'onda rapidissima
e assai profonda alle cornute amazzoni
dovette un poco far tremare il petto.
E tuttavia comincia una di qua,
e poi l'altra di là
a fare un passo su quel tronco stretto,
nessuna indietro torna
fin che quasi si toccan con le corna.

Così Luigi il Grande immaginatevi
che con Filippo quarto re di Spagna
s'incontrò un dì nell'isola,
che della Conferenza il nome prese.
Le nostre avventuriere già si toccano,
naso a naso, già vengono alle prese,
per non ceder nessuna, in mezzo al ponte,
entrambe fiere, insofferenti, impronte.

Ciascuna avea la gloria
di contare nel quadro di famiglia,
l'una la capra celebre
di cui, narra l'istoria,
fece un don Polifemo a Galatea,
l'altra quella che a Giove fe' di balia,
non men nota, Amaltea.

Con questi precedenti, anzi che cedere,
nell'acqua tutte e due precipitarono.
Avvien che spesso accada
questo accidente a chi della fortuna
cammina sulla strada.