The Fly and the Ant

Fable by Jean De La Fontaine Collection The FablesThemes Insects, Seasons, WorkPeriod 17th century

The Fly and the Ant argued over their worth.
“O Jupiter!” said the first,
“Must self-love blind minds
In such a terrible way,
That a vile and crawling animal
Dares to call itself equal to the daughter of the air!
I haunt Palaces, I sit at your table:
If a ox is sacrificed to you, I taste it before you;
While this one, puny and miserable,
Lives three days on a straw she has dragged home.
But, my dear, tell me,
Do you ever camp on the head of a King,
An Emperor, or a Beauty?
I do; and I kiss a fair bosom whenever I wish;
I play among hair;
I enhance with a tint the natural whiteness;
And the final touch a woman going into conquest
Puts to her beauty,
Is an adornment borrowed from Flies.
Then go break the head
Of your granaries. – Have you finished?”
Replied the housekeeper.
“You haunt Palaces; but there you are cursed.
And as for tasting first
Of what is served before the Gods,
Do you think it is any better? If you enter everywhere, so do the profane.
On the heads of Kings and on those of Donkeys
You go and perch; I don’t deny it;
And I know that by a swift death
This importunity is very often punished.
A certain adornment, you say, makes one pretty.
I agree: it is black like you and me.
I grant it is called Fly: is that a reason why
You should trumpet your merits?
Are not parasites also called Flies?
So stop using such vain language:
Have no more such high thoughts.
Court Flies are chased away;
Informers are hanged; and you will die of hunger,
Of cold, of languor, of misery,
When Phoebus reigns over another hemisphere.
Then I will enjoy the fruit of my labors.
I will not, over hills and valleys,
Expose myself to wind, to rain;
I will live without melancholy.
The care I have taken will exempt me from care.
I will teach you thereby
What false or true glory is.
Farewell: I am wasting time: let me work;
Neither my granary nor my cupboard
Fills itself by chattering.”

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-the-fly-and-the-ant-jean-de-la-fontaine/