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4. dommage =

'perte.' It was a strange and unnatural partnership. 6. envoie. Verbs like 'envoyer' ending in 'yer' usually change 'y' into 'i' before a mute 'e.'

7. Eux venus, 'when they had come.' Cp. xiv. 13.

par, 'on.'

9. part. Distinguish carefully 'part,' 'parti,' and 'partie.' Generally speaking part' a share'; partie'= 'a part'; 'parti'

=

=

'a party' (political), or a match' (matrimonial).

le cerf, accus. after 'il dépeça.'

10. sire here

'seigneur.' 'En qualité,' 'as being lord,' 'by right

of lordship,' 'in virtue of his position as lord.

11. être à moi, 'to belong to me.' Possession may be expressed in several ways-e.g., Ce livre est le mien; ce livre est à moi; c'est mon livre.'

13. à dire. Avoir (or trouver), à dire (or à redire), à . means 'to find fault with,' 'to object to.'

15. v. le savez. 'Le' is neuter, and refers to the statement generally. 16. prétends, ‘I claim,' 'lay claim to.' This sense of 'prétendre' with the accusative is obsolete.

18. tout d'abord, 'at the very outset,' 'the very first thing.' 'Tout' strengthens the expression.

XVI.-LE LION ET LE RAT.

'Every little makes a mickle.'

1. Il faut, etc. Compare fable xii. 1.

2. soi; here used correctly, in a general statement. Cp. 'chacun pour soi.'

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6. à l'étourdie. In such phrases (cp. 'à la légère, etc.), the word 'mode' 'fashion,' 'way,' may be understood, which accounts for the gender of the adjective.

8. ce qu'il était, i.e. his true character. It is to be feared that the magnanimity often ascribed to lions is rather a poetic fiction. 10. jamais; here in its proper sense (without 'ne') of 'ever.' 11. affaire 'besoin.' 'Eût' is subjunctive after a verb of thinking used interrogatively.

12. avint = 'arriva.' An old-fashioned word. The modern form is advenir.

au sortir. Here sortir,' the infinitive, is used as a noun. Cp. lxvi. 12, 13, 'le dormir,' 'le manger,' 'le boire.' This is not an English use; it is rare in French, but very common both in Greek and German-au sortir' 'à la sortie,' 'in coming out of the forests.'

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14. dont. In this meaning of 'place from,' 'dont' is obsolete; 'd'où' would now be the correct expression.

ne purent. For the omission of 'pas,' see xiii. 6.

15. Sire rat, 'Sir Rat,' 'Master Rat.' The title 'sire,' originally confined to kings and sovereign lords, is often given playfully to humble and insignificant characters.

16. ouvrage, i.c. 'les rets.'

17. Patience et longueur

In proverbial phrases and enumera

tions the article is often left out. For a still better instance see v. 33.

18. ni. We should expect 'ou,' as there is no negative in the phrase. rage; not 'rage,' but 'violence,' 'fury.'

XVII. LE CORBEAU ET LE RENARD.

1. Maître, 'Master,' the title given in France to lawyers, and especially barristers (cp. Masters' in Chancery).

There is not

much point in the use of it here, except by reference to the dark plumage of the crow. The term is more appropriately applied to the fox.

sur un arbre perché, i.e. 'perché sur un arbre.'

2. un fromage, not a piece of cheese, but the whole of a small cream cheese.

4. tint ce langage, 'spake on this wise.' 'Tenir un langage' is rather a pompous expression for 'parler.'

5. M. du corbeau, 'Squire Crow.' This 'de' or 'du' is called in French the 'nobiliary particle.' The French gentry, like the Scotch lairds, used to add the name of their estate to their own family name, with the preposition connecting the two.

6. que.

Take 'que' with the adj. 'How . . ?'

9. le phénix, 'the marvel,' 'the paragon.' The phoenix was a fabulous bird. If its body were burnt after its death it was supposed to arise alive from the ashes. The word came to be applied to anything unique and wonderful.

10. ne se sent pas de joie, 'is beside himself for joy,' 'cannot contain himself for joy'; lit. 'cannot feel himself for joy.'

13. This sermon, coming from the thief, is very comic.

16. bien, emphatic-' is well worth.'

sans doute, 'to be sure,' 'certainly.' 'Sans doute' in modern French generally conveys an idea of doubt.

18. y, 'at it,' i.e. making such a fool of himself.

XVIII.-LE RENARD AYANT LA QUEUE COUPÉE.

1. des plus fins (renards). The superlative is often expressed in this partitive way. Trans. one of the shrewdest.

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2. croqueur, a word which La Fontaine invented.

3. sentant son renard

'you could nose him for a fox a league off.' 'Sentir' is a neuter verb, and means to 'smell,' to 'smack of'; 'son renard' is what is called the 'cognate accusative' (ep. 'aller son chemin '). The whole phrase means 'to smack of the fox,' 'to be foxy.' The possessive seems to add force to the expression, and so does the added detail-' d'une lieue.' The whole means that he was the very incarnation of foxiness and craft. Cp. 'sentir son fripon,' of a 'thorough rogue,' etc.

6. non pas is stronger than 'pas '-'not indeed.'

==

franc, originally = 'free'; here, 'free from damage,' 'unscathed,' 'whole.'

12. se (dative), to or from oneself. It need not be translated. 14. avis, 'motion,' 'proposal,' 'opinion.'

16. il se fit

"There arose '; lit. 'made itself.' 'Il' is neuter; the real subject is 'une telle huée.' Cp. 'il est tombé de la pluie,' etc.

18. prétendre ôter

taken off).
pretend.

.' 'To try and have tails abolished . . .' (lit. Remember that 'prétendre' does not mean 'to

19. en. To what does this refer?

XIX.-LES DEUX MULETS.

1. cheminaient, 'were werding their way'; 'chemin' = 'a path,' 'a road.'

2. gabelle, 'taxes.' Originally the salt tax,' one of the most scandalously oppressive taxes of the old French monarchy.

3. glorieux; not 'glorious,' but 'proud.'

une charge si belle, 'so noble a burden.' Notice the difference in the order of the words between the two languages.

8. en v. à, 'as they were after,' i.e. bent upon getting. En vouloir à. ' has two meanings (1) 'to aim at,' ' to be intent upon,' e.g., à qui en voulez-vous,' ' to whom do you wish to speak?" (2) to bear a grudge against some one (where 'en mal').

10. au frein, by the

13. est-ce donc là, 'is that then

15. moi, je .

'as for me, I . .'; 'whilst I
use of the disjunctive pronoun to mark emphasis.

= 'du

Notice the

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15. y, i.e. 'dans le danger.'

19. si malade, in such straits,' 'in such sore plight.' The word 'malade' is generally used in the narrower sense of 'ill,' 'indisposed.'

XX.-LE LION ET LE CHASSEUR.

'Discretion is the better part of valour.'

1. fanfaron means literally 'one who blows his own trumpet' (fanfare).

2. venant de. See vii. 8.

3. qu'il soupçonnait. Supply 'être.'

5. Notice the two inversions in this line.

6. que = 'afin que'; hence the subjunctive, 'fasse.'

de ce pas, 'forthwith,' 'instantly'; lit. 'from this step.'

se faire raison, 'to obtain (to exact) satisfaction.' 'Avoir r.,' 'to be right.'

7. c'est. 'ce, i.e. la maison du lion.'

vers, 'in the direction of.'

8. de tribut, 'as tribute.' Cp. 2000 livres de revenu.'

9. par ch. m. 'Par' need not be translated. Cp. 'per annum.' 11. ten. ces propos. Cp. 'tint. . . ce langage,' xvii. 4. Remember that 'propos' does not mean 'proposal.'

13. d'esquiver. Notice this use of the infinitive, called the 'historic' or 'narrative' infinitive, which is not uncommon in Latin. Cp. 'Grenouilles de sauter. ,' lvii. 24. It makes the description more graphic and rapid-' off went the braggart.' In modern French only the reflexive form, 's'esquiver,' is used. 15. qui me puisse. When the phrase preceding a relative pronoun implies a hope or expectation or likelihood, and does not merely state a fact, the relative is followed, as here, by the subjunctive, e.g., 'some refuge which (I hope) may . . . For the position of the pronoun 'me,' cp. viii. 1.

16. de courage. We should expect 'du courage.'

18. Tel, 'such a one,' 'so and so,' of an imaginary instance. Cp. viii. 8.

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XXI.-LA MORT ET LE BÛCHERON.

'A live dog is better than a dead lion.'

1. ramée, the 'branches' still covered with leaves, which he has been lopping off.

3. à, 'with.'

4. chaumine, a poor hut,' 'a cabin.'

5. n'en pouv. plus, 'exhausted'; lit. 7. au monde = dans le monde.

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'Chaumière' is 'a cottage.'

'being able no more of it.'

8. en est-il un, 'est-il': 'y a-t-il ?' 'En' probably refers to men generally, but need not be translated.

en la m. ronde, i.e. 'in the world.' For 'en la' see ii. 6. 11. la corvée. Before the French Revolution it was usually the duty of peasants to give the lord of the manor on which they lived a certain number of days' work without payment. This forced, unpaid labour was called 'corvée,' and the word survives for any unpleasant and ill-paid duty.

12. achevée, an adjective, 'complete,' 'perfect.'

16. tu ne t. guère, 'You won't be long, will you?' The woodman has evidently no wish to see more of death than he can help. 18. Ne bougeons. With 'bouger' the neg. 'pas' is often omitted. With what other verbs is this the case?

XXII.-LES DEUX RATS, LE RENARD ET L'EUF.

'Necessity is the mother of invention.'

1. vie, 'living,' 'livelihood.'

3. il (neuter), 'there was no

trouvassent is in the subjunctive, being governed by an impersonal phrase.

6. quidam (pron. 'kidan '), 'stranger,' 'intruder.' 'Quidam' is a Latin word, meaning 'a certain man,' and is used of persons whose names one does not know or care to tell. It is used in this sense in French, being originally a technical law term.

maître, r. See xvii. 1.

7. rencontre... When words are thus used 'in apposition' to a preceding statement, we use the indefinite article, the French

use none.

8. comment sauver, 'how were they to . . .' This use is called the interrogative infinitive. Cp. 'que faire ?' 'What is to be done?' Empaqueter... porter... rouler . . . traîner' are really subjects of 'était' in I. 11-'ce' resumes them.