L'autre exemple est tiré d'animaux plus...
Language: French (Français)
L'autre exemple est tiré d'animaux plus petits.
Le long d'un clair ruisseau buvait une Colombe,
Quand sur l'eau se penchant une Fourmi y tombe.
Et dans cet océan l'on eût vu la Fourmi
S'efforcer, mais en vain, de regagner la rive.
La Colombe aussitôt usa de charité :
Un brin d'herbe dans l'eau par elle étant jeté,
Ce fut un promontoire où la Fourmi arrive.
Elle se sauve ; et là-dessus
Passe un certain Croquant qui marchait les pieds nus.
Ce Croquant, par hasard, avait une arbalète.
Dès qu'il voit l'Oiseau de Vénus
Il le croit en son pot, et déjà lui fait fête.
Tandis qu'à le tuer mon Villageois s'apprête,
La Fourmi le pique au talon.
Le Vilain retourne la tête :
La Colombe l'entend, part, et tire de long.
Le soupé du Croquant avec elle s'envole :
Point de Pigeon pour une obole.
About the headline (FAQ)
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):
- by Angèle Blot , "La Fourmi et la colombe.", op. 48, published 1885 [ voice and piano ], from Fables de Lafontaine, no. 3, Paris : F. Gauvin [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Bonneau (1918 - 1995), "La colombe et la fourmi", published 1952 [ medium voice and piano ], from Fables de La Fontaine I, no. 6, Éd. Lido Mélodies [sung text not yet checked]
- by Guido Spinetti (1850 - 1931), "La colombe et la fourmi", published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from 5 Fables de La Fontaine, no. 5, Paris: A. Quinzard [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Dove and the Ant", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-09-03
Line count: 19
Word count: 141
The Dove and the Ant
Language: English after the French (Français)
The second example is drawn from smaller animals.
Along a clear stream a dove was drinking,
When an ant leaning over the water fell in.
And in that ocean the ant could be seen
Striving, but in vain, to regain the shore.
The dove at once exercised charity:
She threw a blade of grass into the water,
And it became a promontory where the ant landed.
She was saved; and thereupon
A certain peasant passed by, walking barefoot.
It happened that this peasant had a crossbow.
As soon as he saw the bird of Venus
He imagined her in his pot, and was already celebrating.
While my villager was preparing to kill her,
The ant nipped him on the heel.
The lout turned his head;
The dove heard him, went off, and made her escape.
The peasant's supper took wing with her:
Not even an obol's worth of pigeon.
Note for line 19: an obol was a low-denomination coin of ancient Greece, worth a sixth of a drachma.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-10
Line count: 19
Word count: 149
