The Mother, the Child, and the Opossums

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

You, whose charms, whose modest gentleness,
know how to obtain all and dare not claim anything,
you whom one cannot see without becoming more tender,
and whom one cannot love without becoming better,
I respect you too much to speak of your charms,
of your talents, of your wit…
you were already afraid; banish your alarms,
it is of your virtues that I speak.
I wish to paint in my verses the model of mothers,
the opossum, an animal little known among us,
but whose touching and gentle cares,
whose maternal tenderness,
will be of some worth to you.
The basis of the tale is true:
Buffon is my guarantee; who could doubt it?
Besides, in this genre everything has the right to be believed,
when it is before you that one can tell it.
Mama, said one day to the tenderest mother
a Peruvian child seated on her knees,
what is that animal which, in that heather,
walks with its little ones?
It resembles the fox. My son, she answered,
of the opossum it is the female;
no mother for her children
ever had more love, more vigilant care.
Nature wished to second her tenderness,
and made for her near the stomach
a deep pocket, a kind of sack,
where her little ones, when danger presses them,
go to shelter their weakness.
Make a noise, you will see what becomes of them.
The child claps his hands; the attentive opossum
rears up, and, with a plaintive voice,
utters a cry; the little ones at once come running,
and leap toward the mother,
seeking in her breast their usual refuge.
The pocket opens, the little ones
in a moment are nestled there,
they all disappear; the mother with swiftness
flees carrying off her riches.
The Peruvian woman then said to the surprised child:
if ever fate is against you,
remember the opossum, imitate it, my son:
the surest asylum is a mother’s breast.

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-mother-the-child-and-the-opossums-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/