restrain
His best emotions along with the depraved
And give up every innocent thing he craved.
As for me, such perverted logic is my bane.
Don’t smother the fi re in my heart which makes life dear;
Do not snuff me out yet. I’m not laid on my bier.
Phoebus and Boreas
Th
e sun and the north wind observed a traveller
Who was cloaked with particular care
Because fall had returned; for when autumn has come,
What we wear must be warm or we dare not leave home.
Both rain and rainbow as the sun shines fi tfully,
Warn one to dress warily
In these months when we don’t know for what to prepare—
An uncertain time in the Roman calendar.
Th
ough our traveller was fortifi ed for a gale,
With interlined cloak which the rain could not penetrate,
Th
e wind said, “Th
is man thinks himself impregnable
And his cloak is well sewn, but my force can prevail
As he’ll fi nd in the blast I create,
Th
at not a button has held. Indeed before I am through,
I may waft the whole mantle away.
Th
e battle could aff ord us amusement, I’d say.
Do you fancy a contest?” Th
e sun said, “I do.
Mere words are unprofi table,
Let us see which can fi rst unfasten the mantle
Protecting the pedestrian.
Begin: I shall hide; you uncloak him if you can.”
Th
en our blower swelled, swallowed what wind he could,
To form a balloon, and with the wager to win,
Made demoniacal din,
J e a n de L a F on ta i n e 79
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Deitz 1st pages.indd 79
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6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
Puff ed, snorted, and sighed till the blast that he brewed
Left ships without a sail and homes without a roof
Because a mantle proved storm-proof.
It was a triumph for the man to have withstood
Th
e onslaught of wind that had rushed in,
As he somehow stood fi rm. Th
e wind roared his chagrin—
A defeated boaster since his gusts had been borne.
Controlling clasp and skirt required dexterity,
But the wind found nothing torn
And must stop punctually.
Th
e cloud had made it cool
Till the sun’s genial infl uence caused the traveller to give way,
And perspiring because wearing wool,
He cast off a wrap too warm for the day
Th
ough the sun had not yet shone with maximum force.
Clemency may be our best resource.
Th
e Schoolboy, the Pedant, and the Man with a Garden
Here was a youth symbolic of the school—
Up to his chin in what would mean the cane,
Fearsomely young and bearing out the rule
Th
at pedants can impair anybody’s brain,
Stealing fruit from a neighbor, old refrain;
Defl owering a tree. In the fall every time,
Pomona’s
gift s to the neighbor were sublime,
Superior to whatever others grew
As seasons led forth their retinue.
Where in spring fi nd the fl owers gardens bore,
Like Flora’s own in bloom at his door?
He saw a boor from the school in the orchard one day,
Who’d got into a fruit-tree and was making it sway—
Wreaking useless damage. Fruit and fl owers. What defense?
80 F r e n c h
Deitz 1st pages.indd 80
Deitz 1st pages.indd 80
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
Injuring buds that might later be sustenance,
Th
e schoolboy maimed the tree, did such harm in the end
Th
at the fruit-grower, disheartened,
Complained to the school-master of the scapegrace,
Who brought others until the orchard was over-run
By boys doing what the fi rst had done
Except that they were worse. Th
e pedant—man in its most worthless
phase—
Was adding to all the harm begun,
Dunces who had been mistaught,
Saying his object was to discipline but one,
Th
e marauder who was originally caught—
All profi ting by the demonstration.
Th
en he droned Virgil and Cicero on and on,
Each of course with reference.
Meanwhile boys swarmed through the orchard till the miscreants
Did the garden more harm than anybody could mend.
How I hate far-fetched magniloquence—
Discursive intrusiveness world without end.
If there are creatures who
His best emotions along with the depraved
And give up every innocent thing he craved.
As for me, such perverted logic is my bane.
Don’t smother the fi re in my heart which makes life dear;
Do not snuff me out yet. I’m not laid on my bier.
Phoebus and Boreas
Th
e sun and the north wind observed a traveller
Who was cloaked with particular care
Because fall had returned; for when autumn has come,
What we wear must be warm or we dare not leave home.
Both rain and rainbow as the sun shines fi tfully,
Warn one to dress warily
In these months when we don’t know for what to prepare—
An uncertain time in the Roman calendar.
Th
ough our traveller was fortifi ed for a gale,
With interlined cloak which the rain could not penetrate,
Th
e wind said, “Th
is man thinks himself impregnable
And his cloak is well sewn, but my force can prevail
As he’ll fi nd in the blast I create,
Th
at not a button has held. Indeed before I am through,
I may waft the whole mantle away.
Th
e battle could aff ord us amusement, I’d say.
Do you fancy a contest?” Th
e sun said, “I do.
Mere words are unprofi table,
Let us see which can fi rst unfasten the mantle
Protecting the pedestrian.
Begin: I shall hide; you uncloak him if you can.”
Th
en our blower swelled, swallowed what wind he could,
To form a balloon, and with the wager to win,
Made demoniacal din,
J e a n de L a F on ta i n e 79
Deitz 1st pages.indd 79
Deitz 1st pages.indd 79
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
Puff ed, snorted, and sighed till the blast that he brewed
Left ships without a sail and homes without a roof
Because a mantle proved storm-proof.
It was a triumph for the man to have withstood
Th
e onslaught of wind that had rushed in,
As he somehow stood fi rm. Th
e wind roared his chagrin—
A defeated boaster since his gusts had been borne.
Controlling clasp and skirt required dexterity,
But the wind found nothing torn
And must stop punctually.
Th
e cloud had made it cool
Till the sun’s genial infl uence caused the traveller to give way,
And perspiring because wearing wool,
He cast off a wrap too warm for the day
Th
ough the sun had not yet shone with maximum force.
Clemency may be our best resource.
Th
e Schoolboy, the Pedant, and the Man with a Garden
Here was a youth symbolic of the school—
Up to his chin in what would mean the cane,
Fearsomely young and bearing out the rule
Th
at pedants can impair anybody’s brain,
Stealing fruit from a neighbor, old refrain;
Defl owering a tree. In the fall every time,
Pomona’s
gift s to the neighbor were sublime,
Superior to whatever others grew
As seasons led forth their retinue.
Where in spring fi nd the fl owers gardens bore,
Like Flora’s own in bloom at his door?
He saw a boor from the school in the orchard one day,
Who’d got into a fruit-tree and was making it sway—
Wreaking useless damage. Fruit and fl owers. What defense?
80 F r e n c h
Deitz 1st pages.indd 80
Deitz 1st pages.indd 80
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
6/26/2013 6:52:15 AM
Injuring buds that might later be sustenance,
Th
e schoolboy maimed the tree, did such harm in the end
Th
at the fruit-grower, disheartened,
Complained to the school-master of the scapegrace,
Who brought others until the orchard was over-run
By boys doing what the fi rst had done
Except that they were worse. Th
e pedant—man in its most worthless
phase—
Was adding to all the harm begun,
Dunces who had been mistaught,
Saying his object was to discipline but one,
Th
e marauder who was originally caught—
All profi ting by the demonstration.
Th
en he droned Virgil and Cicero on and on,
Each of course with reference.
Meanwhile boys swarmed through the orchard till the miscreants
Did the garden more harm than anybody could mend.
How I hate far-fetched magniloquence—
Discursive intrusiveness world without end.
If there are creatures who
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