Education

Fable by Jean De La Fontaine Collection The FablesThemes AnimalsPeriod 17th century

Laridon and Caesar, brothers whose origin
Came from famous dogs, handsome, well built and bold,
To two different masters fallen in times of old,
Haunted, one the forests, and the other the kitchen.
They had at first each another name;
But the different food
Strengthening in one this happy nature,
In the other altering it, a certain scullion
Named this one Laridon:
His brother, having run many a high adventure,
Brought many a Stag to bay, many a Boar struck down,
Was the first Caesar that the dog kind has had.
Care was taken to prevent an unworthy mate
From degenerating his blood in his children:
Laridon neglected showed his tenderness
To the first object passing by.
He populated everything with his offspring:
Turnspits made common by him in France
Form a separate body there, people shunning hazards,
A race antipodal to the Caesars.
One does not always follow one’s ancestors or one’s father:
Little care, time, everything makes one degenerate:
For want of cultivating nature and its gifts,
O how many Caesars will become Laridons!

Jean de La Fontaine

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/fable-education-jean-de-la-fontaine/