by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)
Translation © by Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972)
La Poule aux oeufs d'or
Language: French (Français)
L'avarice perd tout en voulant tout gagner. Je ne veux, pour le témoigner, Que celui dont la Poule, à ce que dit la Fable, Pondait tous les jours un oeuf d'or. Il crut que dans son corps elle avait un trésor. Il la tua, l'ouvrit, et la trouva semblable A celles dont les oeufs ne lui rapportaient rien, S'étant lui-même ôté le plus beau de son bien. Belle leçon pour les gens chiches : Pendant ces derniers temps, combien en a-t-on vus Qui du soir au matin sont pauvres devenus Pour vouloir trop tôt être riches ?
Authorship:
- by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), "La Poule aux oeufs d'or" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Rudolf (Ruud) Leopold Koumans (b. 1929), "La Poule aux oeufs d'or", op. 25 no. 4 (1964) [ chorus and orchestra ], from Vijf fabels van La Fontaine, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972) , "The hen that laid the golden eggs", appears in The Fables of La Fontaine: A Complete New Translation, first published 1954, copyright © ; composed by Juliana Hall.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-05-31
Line count: 12
Word count: 97
The hen that laid the golden eggs
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Take all that is there and forfeit increment [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Authorship:
- by Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972), "The hen that laid the golden eggs", appears in The Fables of La Fontaine: A Complete New Translation, first published 1954, copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), "La Poule aux oeufs d'or"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "The hen that laid the golden eggs", 1990, first performed 1991 [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, and piano ], from Fables for a Prince -- 6 songs for Soprano, Mezzo, Tenor, Baritone and Piano, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 103