The Eagle, the Wild Sow, and the Cat

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

The Eagle had her young at the top of a hollow tree.
The Wild Sow at its foot, the Cat between the two;
And without inconveniencing themselves, thanks to this arrangement,
Mothers and nurslings went about their business.
The Cat destroyed their agreement by her trickery.
She climbed up to the Eagle and said to her: Our death
(At least of our children, for it is all one to mothers)
Will hardly be long delayed.
Do you see at our feet incessantly rooting
That accursed Wild Sow, and digging a mine?
It is to uproot the oak, surely,
And to bring ruin upon our nurslings.
The tree falling, they will be devoured:
Let them be assured of it.
If but one remained to me, I would soften my complaint.
On leaving that place, which she filled with fear,
The treacherous one descends straight
To the spot
Where the Wild Sow lay in.
My good friend and my neighbor,
She said to her softly, I give you a warning.
The eagle, if you go out, will swoop down on your little ones:
Oblige me by saying nothing of it:
Her wrath would fall on me.
Having sown fear in that other family,
The Cat withdraws into her hole.
The Eagle dares not go out, nor provide for the needs
Of her young; the Wild Sow still less:
Fools for not seeing that the greatest of cares,
It must be that of avoiding famine.
Each obstinately stays at home
To succor her own in the event:
The Royal Bird, in case of a mine,
The Wild Sow, in case of an irruption.
Hunger destroyed all: not one remained
Of the swine folk and of the eaglet folk,
Who did not pass from life to death:
A great reinforcement for Messieurs the Cats.
What cannot a treacherous tongue contrive
By its pernicious skill?
Of the misfortunes that have come out
Of Pandora’s box,
The one that with best right all the Universe abhors,
Is trickery, in my opinion.

Jean de La Fontaine

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

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