The Weasel That Got into a Granary

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

Dame Weasel, with body long and slim,
Entered a Granary through a very narrow hole:
She was just recovering from illness.
There, living as she pleased,
The gallant lady made good cheer,
Ate, gnawed: God knows the life,
And the bacon that perished on that occasion!
There she is, in conclusion,
Fat, plump, and round.
At the week’s end, having dined her fill,
She hears some noise, wants to leave through the hole,
Can no longer pass back, and thinks she has mistaken her way
After having made a few turns,
“It is,” she says, “the place: I am quite surprised;
I passed through here five or six days ago.”
A Rat, who saw her in distress,
Told her: “Your belly was then a little less full.
You entered thin, you must leave thin.
What I tell you here, is said to many others;
But let us not confuse, by probing too deeply,
Their affairs with yours.”

Jean de La Fontaine

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

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