The Monkey Who Shows the Magic Lantern

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

Gentlemen, you fine wits whose prose and verse
are of a pompous style and always admirable,
but whom no one understands, listen to this fable,
and try to become clear.
A man who showed the magic lantern
had a monkey whose tricks
drew a great crowd to his place:
Jacqueau, that was his name, on the elastic rope
danced and fluttered about at best,
then did the perilous leap,
and then on a cord, without anything supporting him,
body straight, fixed, plumb,
our Jacqueau does all along
the Prussian exercise.
One day when his master had remained at the tavern
(it was, I think, a feast day),
our monkey, free,
wants to do a stunt of his own.
He goes off to gather the various animals
he can meet in the town;
dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, pigs,
soon arrive in single file.
Come in, come in, gentlemen, cried our Jacqueau;
it is here, it is here that a new spectacle
will charm you gratis: yes, gentlemen, at the door
no money is taken, I do everything for honor.
At these words, each spectator
goes to take his place, and they bring
the magic lantern; the shutters are closed,
and, by a speech made on purpose,
Jacqueau prepares the audience.
This truly oratorical piece
made them yawn, but they applauded.
Content with his success, our monkey seizes
a painted glass he puts into his lantern.
He knows how to manage it,
and cries as he pushes it: is anything equal?
Gentlemen, you see the sun,
its rays and all its glory.
Here now is the moon; and then the story
of Adam, of Eve and the animals…
see, gentlemen, how beautiful they are!
See the birth of the world;
see… the spectators, in a deep night,
stretched their eyes wide and could see nothing;
the room, the wall, all was black.
My word, said a cat, of all the marvels
with which he stuns our ears,
the fact is that I see nothing.
Nor I, said a dog.
I, said a turkey, I do see something;
but I do not know for what reason
I cannot distinguish very well.
During all these speeches, the modern Cicero
spoke eloquently and never tired.
He had forgotten only one point,
it was to light his lantern.

Florian

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-monkey-who-shows-the-magic-lantern-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/