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A Wolf had only skin and bones,
So well did dogs keep watch and ward.
This Wolf meets a Mastiff as mighty as he was handsome,
Fat, sleek, who had strayed off by carelessness.
To attack him, to cut him to pieces,
Sire Wolf would gladly have done it;
But battle had to be joined,
And the Mastiff was of a size
To defend himself boldly.
The Wolf therefore approaches him humbly,
Enters into talk, and pays him compliment
On his plumpness, which he admires.
“”It rests only with you, fair sire,
To be as fat as I am, the Dog replied.
Leave the woods, you would do well:
Your kind there are wretched,
Starvelings, wretches, and poor devils,
Whose lot is to die of hunger.
For what? nothing assured: no free feast:
Everything at the point of the sword.
Follow me: you will have a far better fate.””
The Wolf replied: “”What will I have to do?
– Almost nothing, said the Dog, give chase to people
Carrying sticks, and to beggars;
Flatter those of the household, please your Master:
In return for which your wages
Will be plenty of scraps of every kind:
Bones of chickens, bones of pigeons,
Not to speak of many a caress.””
The Wolf already forges himself a bliss
That makes him weep with tenderness.
On the way, he saw the Dog’s neck, peeled bare.
“”What is that there? he said to him. – Nothing. – What? nothing? – A little thing.
– But what else? – The collar to which I am tied
Is perhaps the cause of what you see.
– Tied? said the Wolf: then you do not run
Where you wish? – Not always; but what does it matter?
– It matters so much, that of all your meals
I want none in any way,
And I would not even at that price want a treasure.””
That said, master Wolf flees, and still runs.
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-wolf-and-the-dog-jean-de-la-fontaine/