The Charlatan

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

On the Pont-Neuf, surrounded by idlers,
a charlatan was shouting at the top of his lungs:
come, gentlemen, hurry and buy
the great remedy for all ills:
it is an admirable powder
that gives wit to fools,
honor to scoundrels, innocence to the guilty,
to old women lovers,
to the amorous old man a young mistress,
to madmen the prize of wisdom,
and knowledge to the ignorant.
With my powder, there is nothing in life
that one cannot soon accomplish;
through it one obtains all, knows all, does all;
it is the great encyclopedia.
Quickly I drew near to see this fine treasure….
it was a bit of gold powder.

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-charlatan-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/