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Goodman Fox once set about playing host,
and invited to dinner his gossip the Stork.
The feast was meager and lacking in fixings:
The gallant, for all his doings,
Had only a thin broth; he lived on little.
This broth he served on a plate:
The long-billed Stork could not get a morsel of it;
And the rogue licked it all up in a moment.
To avenge this trickery,
Some time later, the Stork invites him.
“With pleasure,” he tells her; “for with my friends
I stand on no ceremony.”
At the appointed hour, he ran to the home
Of the Stork, his hostess;
He praised her courtesy greatly;
Found the dinner cooked to perfection:
A hearty appetite above all; Foxes never lack one.
He was delighted by the smell of the meat
Cut into small pieces, which he thought a treat.
It was served, to embarrass him,
In a vase with a long neck and narrow mouth.
The Stork’s beak could easily pass through it;
But the gentleman’s muzzle was of another measure.
He had to return home hungry,
Ashamed like a Fox caught by a Hen,
Tucking his tail and drooping his ear.
Deceivers, it is for you I write:
Expect the same in return.
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-fox-and-the-stork-jean-de-la-fontaine/