by
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
Wagtail and Baby
Language: English
A baby watched a ford, whereto
A wagtail came for drinking;
A blaring bull went wading through,
The wagtail showed no shrinking.
A stallion splashed his way across,
The birdie nearly sinking;
He gave his plumes a twitch and toss,
And held his own unblinking.
Next saw the baby round the spot
A mongrel slowly slinking;
The wagtail gazed, but faltered not
In dip and sip and prinking.
A perfect gentleman then neared;
The wagtail, in a winking,
With terror rose and disappeared;
The baby fell a-thinking.
First published in
Albany Review, April 1907
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Christopher Park) , "La bergeronnette et le bébé", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 87
La bergeronnette et le bébé
Language: French (Français) after the English
Un bébé regardait un gué, vers lequel
Une bergeronnette est venue boire ;
Un taureau mugissant passait le gué,
La bergeronnette n'a pas reculé.
Un étalon éclaboussa son chemin à travers,
La bergeronnette a failli sombrer ;
Elle secoua d’un coup ses plumes,
Et resta là, sans même cligner de l’œil.
Après cela, le bébé vit arriver
Un gros chien bâtard à l’allure lente ;
La bergeronnette le regardait, sans broncher,
En trempant, buvant et piquant du bec.
Un parfait gentleman s'approche alors ;
La bergeronnette, dans un clin d'œil,
Avec terreur, se lève et disparaît ;
Et le bébé s’est mis à réfléchir.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2022 by Christopher Park, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Wagtail and Baby"
This text was added to the website: 2022-06-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 99
