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by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)
Translation © by David Jonathan Justman
Le loup et l'agneau
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure :
Nous l'allons montrer tout à l'heure.
Un agneau se désaltérait
Dans le courant d'une onde pure.
Un loup survint à jeun, qui cherchait aventure,
Et que la faim en ces lieux attirait.
Qui te rend si hardi de troubler mon breuvage ?
Dit cet animal plein de rage :
Tu seras châtié de ta témérité.
Sire, répond l'agneau, que Votre Majesté
Ne se mette pas en colère ;
Mais plutôt qu'elle considère
Que je me vas désaltérant
Dans le courant,
Plus de vingt pas au-dessous d'elle ;
Et que, par conséquent, en aucune façon
Je ne puis troubler sa boisson.
Tu la troubles ! reprit cette bête cruelle ;
Et je sais que de moi tu médis l'an passé.
Comment l'aurais-je fait, si je n'étais pas né ?
Reprit l'agneau : je tette encore ma mère. --
Si ce n'est toi, c'est donc ton frère. --
Je n'en ai point. -- C'est donc quelqu'un des tiens ;
Car vous ne m'épargnez guère,
Vous, vos bergers et vos chiens.
On me l'a dit : il faut que je me venge.
Là-dessus, au fond des forêts
Le loup l'emporte, et puis le mange,
Sans autre forme de procès.
Text Authorship:
- by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), "Le loup et l'agneau", written 1668, appears in Fables [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 Isabelle Aboulker (b. 1938), "Le Loup et l'Agneau", 2002?, published 2018 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour voix et piano, no. 21, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Bonneau (1918 - 1995), "Le loup et l'agneau", published 1952 [ medium voice and piano ], from Fables de La Fontaine I, no. 3, Éd. Lido Mélodies [sung text not yet checked]
- by Melchior Alexandre Bruneau (1823 - 1898), "Le loup et l'agneau", op. 377 no. 8 (1879) [ high voice and piano or harmonium ], from 25 fables de La Fontaine, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Caplet (1879 - 1925), "Le loup et l'agneau", 1919, published 1920 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Fables de Jean de la Fontaine, no. 3, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier (1921 - 1999), "Le Loup et l'agneau", published 1962 [ women's chorus ], from Six Fables de La Fontaine pour chœur à deux ou trois voix de femmes sans accompagnement, no. 4, Éd. Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Le Loup et l'agneau", CG 284 (1872) [ men's chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Alexandre) Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918), "Le loup et l'agneau", 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Six Fables de Jean de la Fontaine, no. 2, Éd. Librairie Musicale R. Legouix [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wulfran Moreau (1827 - 1905), "Le Loup et l'agneau", published 1860? [ soprano, chorus, piano or harmonium ], from Collection des chœurs amusants, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Haton [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , "The wolf and the lamb", copyright ©, (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: 29
Word count: 192
The wolf and the lamb
Language: English after the French (Français)
The right of the stronger... is always better: We will prove it right now. A lamb was quenching its thirst In the current of a pure flow. A wolf looking for adventure, and whom hunger has Attracted to these parts, suddenly appears on an empty stomach. "Who is so hardy as to muddy my waters?" Says this animal full of rage. You will be punished for your temerity. "Sire," the lamb responds, "May Your Majesty not get angry: But may he instead consider That I am quenching my thirst in the current, More than twenty paces below him; And that, therefore, in no way can I muddy his drink." "You are muddying it!" that cruel beast continued; "And I know that you spoke ill of me last year." "How could I have done so if I wasn't born yet?" Continued the lamb; I am still nursing." "If it wasn't you, then it was your brother." "I haven't any brother." -- "Then it's one of yours; For you hardly spare me, You, your shepherds, and your dogs. Others have been telling me that I must avenge myself." Up there, in the heart of the forest The wolf drags him off and then eats him, With no other form of process.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by David Jonathan Justman, (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 French (Français) by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), "Le loup et l'agneau", written 1668, appears in Fables
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 29
Word count: 208