B1 · Episode 17 · 1:43
The Crow and the Fox
This episode presents La Fontaine's fable 'The Crow and the Fox', in which a fox flatters a crow into dropping its cheese, illustrating how flattery can deceive.
Source：Thalie Envolée · License：CC BY 3.0
Transcript
Le corbeau et le renard.
The Crow and the Fox.
Maître corbeau, sur un arbre perché, tenait en son bec un fromage.
Master Crow, perched on a tree, held a piece of cheese in his beak.
maître renard par l'odeur alléché lui tint à peu près ce langage.
Master Fox, lured by the scent, spoke to him something like this.
Et bonjour, monsieur du Corbeau!
Hello, Mr. Crow!
Que vous êtes joli!
How beautiful you are!
que vous me semblez beau!
To me, you seem so handsome!
sans mentir, si votre ramage se rapporte à votre plumage,
Without lying, if your singing matches your plumage,
Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.
You are the phoenix among the birds of these woods.
à ces mots le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie
At these words, the crow felt overjoyed,
et pour montrer sa belle voix il ouvre un large bec
and to show off his fine voice, he opened his beak wide,
laisse tomber sa proie.
and dropped his prize.
Le renard s'en saisit et dit.
The fox seized it at once and said:
mon bon monsieur, apprenez que tout flatteur vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute.
Dear sir, learn this: every flatterer lives at the expense of those who listen to him.
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute.
This lesson is surely worth a piece of cheese.
le corbeau, honteux et confus,
The crow, ashamed and embarrassed,
jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.
swore—though a bit too late—that he’d never be fooled again.