The Sheep and the Dog

Fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Period 18th century

The sheep and the dog, friends of all time,
one day told each other their unhappy life.
Ah! Said the sheep, I weep and I shudder
when I think of the misfortunes of our destiny.
You, the slave of man, adoring ingrates,
always submissive, tender and faithful,
you receive, as the price of your zeal,
blows and often death.
I, who every year clothe them,
who give them milk, and who manure their fields,
I see each morning someone of my family
murdered by these wicked ones.
Their brothers the wolves devour what remains.
Victims of these inhuman ones,
to work for them alone, and to die by their hands,
such is our dreadful fate!
It is true, said the dog: but do you think any happier
the authors of our misery?
Go, my sister, it is still better
to suffer evil than to do it.

Florian

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-the-sheep-and-the-dog-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/