The Hare and the Frogs

Fable by Jean De La Fontaine Collection The FablesThemes Animals, FearPeriod 17th century

A Hare was musing in his form
(For what else is there to do in a form, unless one muses?);
This Hare was plunged into deep gloom:
This animal is sad, and fear gnaws at him.
“”People of a fearful nature
Are, he said, most unfortunate.
They cannot eat a morsel that benefits them;
Never a pure pleasure; always various assaults.
This is how I live: this accursed fear
Prevents me from sleeping, except with eyes open.
Correct yourself, some wise brain will say.
And can fear be corrected?
I even believe, in good faith,
That men are as afraid as I am. “”
Thus reasoned our Hare,
And yet he kept watch.
He was doubtful, anxious:
A breath, a shadow, a nothing, all gave him fever.
The melancholy animal,
Dreaming on this matter,
Hears a slight noise: it was a signal for him
To flee toward his burrow.
He went off to pass along the edge of a pond.
Frogs at once leaped into the waves;
Frogs retreated into their deep grottoes.
“”Oh! he said, I make them do as much
As they make me do! My presence
Frightens people too! I put the camp in alarm!
And whence comes this valor to me?
What? Animals that tremble before me!
I am therefore a thunderbolt of war!
There is, I see it well, no coward on earth
Who cannot find a greater coward than himself. “”

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-hare-and-the-frogs-jean-de-la-fontaine/