Faithfulness | Two swallows, and two swallows

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

La Fidélité

Language: French (Français) after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: ENG

Deux hirondelles, et deux hirondelles... 
Toujours, les hirondelles volent par couple. 
Qu'elles aperçoivent une tour de jade ou un pavillon de laque, 
elles ne s'y perchent jamais l'une sans l'autre. 
Qu'elles aperçoivent une balustrade de marbre ou une fenêtre dorée, 
elles ne se séparent point. 

Il y avait deux hirondelles... 
Quand prit feu la poutre de cèdre qui abritait leur nid, 
elles se réfugièrent dans le palais du roi d'Ou, 
mais le palais du roi d'Ou brûla, 
et le mâle et les petits brûlèrent aussi. 
A son retour, la femelle contempla les ruines du palais. 

Cette histoire m'attriste infiniment.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1926, pages 13-14.

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fidélité", appears in La flûte de jade [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "雙燕離"
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Marie Marjori Hajary (1921 - 2017), "La Fidélité", 1950 [ voice, 2 flutes, viola and violoncello ], from Flûte de jade, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Faithfulness", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-25
Line count: 13
Word count: 99

Faithfulness

Language: English after the French (Français)

Two swallows, and two swallows... 
Swallows always fly in pairs. 
Whether they catch sight of a jade tower or a lacquered pavilion, 
they never perch there one without the other. 
Whether they catch sight of a marble balustrade or a gilded window, 
they do not part.

There were two swallows... 
When the cedar beam that supported their nest caught fire, 
they took refuge in the palace of the King of Ou, 
but the palace of the King of Ou burned, 
and the male and the young burned as well. 
Upon her return, the female surveyed the ruins of the palace. 

This story saddens me infinitely.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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:

a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fidélité", appears in La flûte de jade
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "雙燕離"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-25
Line count: 13
Word count: 105