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Transcript Vocab List Questions Buy Full NotesDo you know Jean de La Fontaine? He was the most famous French fable writer – does The Hare and the Turtle ring a bell? Find out more about his life and legacy in this episode!
Episode Timeline
[04 min 49 sec] Who was Jean de La Fontaine ?
[07 min 24 sec] An approximate date of birth
[09 min 00 sec] Describing Jean de La Fontaine’s house
[11 min 15 sec] Jean de La Fontaine’s father
[13 min 09 sec] What Jean de La Fontaine liked
[14 min 25 sec] Did Jean de La Fontaine live from his writing ?
[16 min 55 sec] The art of conversation
[18 min 25 sec] What makes the fables successful
[22 min 18 sec] Jean de La Fontaine’s most famous fable ?
[24 min 52 sec] Jean de La Fontaine’s confession
[26 min 40 sec] Repenting
[28 min 58 sec] Brigida’s favourite fable
Links & Resources
www.musee-jean-de-la-fontaine.fr
La Cigale et la Fourmi
La cigale ayant chanté
Tout l’été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue :
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu’à la saison nouvelle.
« Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l’août, foi d’animal,
Intérêt et principal. »
La fourmi n’est pas prêteuse :
C’est là son moindre défaut.
« Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
— Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.
— Vous chantiez ? J’en suis fort aise :
Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant. »
(a translation by Don Webb – http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue209/cigale.html)
The cricket had sung her song
all summer long
but found her victuals too few
when the north wind blew.
Nowhere could she espy
a single morsel of worm or fly.
Her neighbor, the ant, might,
she thought, help her in her plight,
and she begged her for a little grain
till summer would come back again.
“By next August I’ll repay both
Interest and principal; animal’s oath.”
Now, the ant may have a fault or two
But lending is not something she will do.
She asked what the cricket did in summer.
“By night and day, to any comer
I sang whenever I had the chance.”
“You sang, did you? That’s nice. Now dance.”
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