The Mole and the Rabbits

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

Each of us often knows his faults quite well:
to admit them, that’s another thing;
we would rather suffer real ills
than confess that they are the cause of them.
I remember on this subject
to have been witness to a fact
most astonishing and hard to believe:
but I saw it, here is the story.
Near a wood, in the evening, apart,
in a superb meadow,
some rabbits were amusing themselves, on the flowery grass,
playing at blindman’s buff.
Rabbits! You will say, the thing is impossible.
Nothing is more true, however: a flexible leaf
over the eyes of one of them was applied as a bandage,
and then tied under the neck.
A moment made do for it.
The one whom this ribbon deprived of light
placed himself in the middle; the others around
jumped, danced, did wonders,
drew away, came in turn
to pull his tail or his ears.
The poor blind one then, turning suddenly,
without fearing the black pot, throws his paw at random;
but the troop escapes in haste,
he catches only wind, he torments himself in vain,
he will be there until tomorrow.
A mole rather giddy,
who under the ground heard this noise,
comes out at once from her retreat
and joins in the game.
You judge that, not seeing there,
she was caught at the first step.
Gentlemen, said a rabbit, it would be a sin,
and justice wills that to our poor sister
we show a little favor;
she is without eyes and without defense:
so I am of the opinion… no, answers with fire
the mole, I am caught, and caught fairly;
put the blindfold on me. -Very willingly, my dear,
here it is; but I believe it is not necessary
that we tighten the knot very hard.
-Excuse me, sir, she replied in anger,
tighten it well, for I can see… tighten, I can still see.

Florian

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

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