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Jupiter said one day: “Let all that breathes\r\nCome appear before my greatness:\r\nIf in his composition anyone finds fault,\r\nHe may declare it without fear;\r\nI will remedy the matter.\r\nCome, Monkey; speak first, and with good reason.\r\nSee these animals, make comparison\r\nOf their beauties with your own.\r\nAre you satisfied? – I? he said, why not?\r\nDo I not have four feet as well as the others?\r\nMy portrait has so far reproached me for nothing;\r\nBut as for my brother the Bear, he has only been sketched:\r\nNever, if he will believe me, will he have himself painted.”\r\nThe Bear coming upon this, it was thought he would complain.\r\nFar from it: he praised his own form very loudly,\r\nRemarked on the Elephant, said that one could still\r\nAdd to his tail, remove from his ears;\r\nThat he was a shapeless mass and without beauty.\r\nThe Elephant having been heard,\r\nWise as he was, said similar things.\r\nHe judged that for his appetite\r\nDame Whale was too big.\r\nDame Ant found the Mite too small,\r\nThinking herself, for her part, a colossus.\r\nJove sent them away, all having censured themselves,\r\nOtherwise, pleased with themselves; but among the most foolish\r\nOur species excelled; for all that we are,\r\nLynxes toward our own kind, and Moles toward ourselves,\r\nWe pardon ourselves everything, and nothing to other men:\r\nOne sees oneself with a different eye than one sees one’s neighbor.\r\nThe sovereign Maker\r\nCreated us all Wallet-bearers in the same manner,\r\nBoth those of times past and of today:\r\nHe made for our faults the pocket behind,\r\nAnd the one in front for the faults of others.
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-wallet-jean-de-la-fontaine/