The Owl and the Pigeon

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

How dreadful is my lot! cried an owl:
old, infirm, suffering, overwhelmed with misery,
I am isolated on the earth,
and never has a bird come into my hole
to console for a moment my solitary sorrow.
A pigeon heard these words,
and ran to the sick one’s side:
alas! My poor comrade,
he said to him, I truly pity your ills.
But I do not understand how an owl of your age
can be without a wife, without parents,
without children or grandchildren.
Did you not tie the knots of marriage
during the course of your fine years?
The owl replied: no indeed, my dear brother:
marry! And for what purpose?
I knew too well the danger of it.
Would you have had me take a young screech owl,
giddy and quite coquettish,
who would betray me constantly or drive me mad,
who would give me sons of a wicked character,
ungrateful, liars, bad sorts,
secretly wishing for their father’s death?
For that is how they all are made.
As for relatives, I have scarcely any,
and never saw them: they are harsh, demanding,
for the slightest thing they grow angry,
love only those from whom they inherit;
yet they must not have to wait long.
Every brother or cousin hates us and plunders us.
I am not of your opinion,
replied the pigeon: but let us speak of friends;
of orphans that is the family:
you must have found some sweetness near them.
-Friends! They are all deceivers.
I knew two owls who tenderly loved each other
for fifteen years, and, one certain day,
over a mouse they cut each other’s throats.
I believe in friendship even less than in love.
-But then, God forgive me!
You have therefore loved no one?
-Upon my word, no, be it said between us.
-In that case, my dear, what are you complaining about?

Florian

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

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