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by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs

Les contes
 (Sung text for setting by C. Debussy)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER
Je suis aimée des petits enfants; dès qu'ils 
me voient, ils courent à moi, et s'accrochent 
à ma tunique et prennent mes jambes dans 
leurs petits bras.

S'ils ont cueilli des fleurs, ils me les donnent 
toutes ; s'ils ont pris un scarabée ils le 
mettent dans ma main; s'ils n'ont rien ils me 
caressent et me font asseoir devant eux.

Alors ils m'embrassent sur la joue, ils 
posent leurs têtes sur mes seins ; ils me 
supplient avec les yeux. Je sais bien ce que 
cela veut dire.

Cela veut dire: "Bilitis chérie, redis-nous, 
car nous sommes gentils, l'histoire du héros 
Perseus ou la mort de la petite Hellé."

Composition:

    Set to music by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Les contes", L. 102/(96) no. 3, from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 3, note: incidental music to accompany the recitation of twelve prose poems.

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Les contes", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 18

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , "The tales", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Geschichten", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Marvin J. Ward

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 110

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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