LINE

8. tout fait nombre, a proverbial phrase. Every little makes a mickle.' Everything goes to increase the number-everything tells.

9. chère, i.e. bonne chère.

11. carpillon, like 'carpeau,' is a diminutive of 'carpe.'

12. je ne saurais. Notice that the conditional of 'savoir,' used in this way, is equivalent to the present indic. of 'pouvoir'; ‘je ne saurais' 'je ne puis.'

=

13. qu'une. Take 'que' with 'ne' in preceding line, 'only.'

14. carpe dev., i.e. 'devenir carpe.'

16. partisan, some rich financier.' A 'partisan' in La Fontaine's time was one who belonged to a 'parti' or financial company formed in order to farm certain taxes. They were noted for their wealth.

17. il v. faut. Translate 'faut' by 'must,' with the pronoun either expressed or to be understood, as the real subject, e.g., ‘il me faut .,' 'I must'; 'il leur faut they must'; 'il

faut que nous partions,' 'we must start,' etc.

en is partitive, after the numeral ‘cent,' but need not be translated.

20. rien qui vaille, nothing worth speaking of,' nothing fit to eat'; lit. nothing which is of any value.' Subjunctive after relative preceded by a negative.

=

96

21. faites le prêcheur. 'Faire' used in this way with a noun or adj. preceded by an article 'to play, to act, to pretend'; e.g.,faire le mort,' 'to pretend to be dead'; 'faire l'imbécile,' to play the fool,' etc.

22. la poêle. There is a masculine word, 'poêle' = 'a stove.' Cp.

fourbe,' ix. 6.

v. avez beau dire, 'it is no use (no good) your talking.'

This

idiom may perhaps be explained thus-'you have a fine opportunity, a fine field' (understanding such a word as 'champ' with 'beau') for talking (but, in spite of it, you won't convince me).'

24. un tiens

the French equivalent for our proverb, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' In very colloquial English it might be literally rendered—one 'here you are' is worth two of wait and see if you get it.'

25. l'est.

Le' is neuter, and is used to avoid repeating the adj. ‘sûr.' If translated it would be rendered 'so.'

XXX.-LE RENARD ET LES POULETS D'INDE.

2. servait de. See xxiii. 15.

7. son dire, his words,' 'what he said.' For the infinitive thus used like a noun see xvi. 12.

LINE

8. le sire, 'his foxship'; a playful use of the title.

9. la dind. gent, the turkey tribe.' "Gent' 'tribe,' 'folk,' is not often used in the singular, though common in the plural

'gens'; 'dindonnier' was coined by La Fontaine; for the whole phrase cp. 'la gent marécageuse,' lvii. 7.

10. n'était. Notice the omission of 'pas.' This construction would now be quite irregular. With some verbs 'pas' may be omitted (xiii. 6).

11. sac de ruses, 'bag of tricks.'

12. se guinda, raised himself up,'' stood up on his hind paws'; 'se guinder' is rather an old-fashioned word.

13. contrefit le m. = fit le mort (see xxix. 21), 'pretended to be dead, and then to come to life again.'

14. Arlequin, 'Harlequin'; a character of the Italian comedy, dressed in particoloured clothes.

16. briller, i.e. by moving it about rapidly.

19. en . 'by . . .'

20. sur même obj. Take after 'tendue'='fixed,' 'riveted.'

22. il en tombait.

See xviii. 16.

'Il' is neuter, the real subject is 'quelqu'un.'

24. le compagnon, much the same as 'galant,' implying an idea of a cheerful and spirited knave. Translate the rascal.'

26. le plus souvent, more often than not.'

XXXI.-LE LIÈVRE ET LA PERDRIX.

'Charity vaunteth not itself.'

1. se, with 'moquer.'

6. ce sont . . . 'Ce' is used to resume subjects mentioned before. 11. fort, a hunting term; here.: a hare's 'form.' It is generally used of the lair' or 'hole' of an animal. From this it came

to be employed in a military sense.

met les chiens . i.e. they lose the scent.

ני

12. Brifaut; a hound's name, literally = 'glutton.'

14. esprits here is used of the steam or emanations rising from a

heated body.

15. Miraut . . . Rustaut, also names of hounds.

ayant philos., a playful use of the word, 'having meditated.'

16. de avec.

17. qui n'a j. menti, i.e. who has never given a false alarm.

=

19. gîte 'fort' above. It means the place where an animal 'lies down,' and comes from the verb 'gésir,' 'to lie.'

LINE

19. à dans. =

21. vite; here an adjective. Now it is only used as an adverb. 24. sauront = pourront. Cp. xxix. 12.

à...

. . .= ' dans toute extr.' The verb 'garantir' takes 'de' after it. 25. pauvrette, diminutive of 'pauvre.'

'had reckoned without,' 'had left out of her

26. aux s., 'with the . . .' Cp. xi. 10; liii. 2, etc.

XXXII.-LE LION ET L'ANE CHASSANT.

1. se mit . . . en t., 'took it into his head.'

2. sa fête. In England we keep birthdays, but in France a person's 'fête' is kept on the 'feast day' of the saint whose name he bears.

3. ce sont. See xi. 14.

7. à la v. de Stentor, 'with the stentorian voice.' Stentor was one of the Greek warriors who besieged Troy. He was famous for

his powerful voice.

8. messer = 'messire.'

10. lui comm. de. Notice the construction with verbs of asking, commanding, etc., which is different in English.

20. c'est.. 'you have shouted gallantly'; lit. 'it is bravely shouted ;' a common idiom.

23. Notice the hypothetical sentence.

24. encore que, ‘even though.'

26. là. Translate by a stress on the demonstrative, That is not . . .'

XXXIII.-LE PAON SE PLAIGNANT À JUNON.

6. au lieu que.

lieu que.'

Notice the difference between 'au lieu de' and 'au

8. lui seul, 'by himself,' 'in himself.'

11. est-ce à toi, 'is it for you?' 'is it right for you to

this use of 'à.'.

.?' Notice

12. toi; a good instance of the disjunctive pronoun used emphatically.

LINE

12. col for 'cou' is old-fashioned.

'collar.'

Now 'col' is chiefly used of a

13. nué; a very unusual word, the commoner form is 'nuancé.' 14. te panades. The word 'paon' and the Latin 'pavo,' from which it comes, have formed two words in French-'se panader,' of a peacock spreading out his tail, 'showing off'; se pavaner,' of a peacock strutting about, 'swaggering.' Both words are applied figuratively to human beings.

19. tout animal

Notice that 'tout' is used in two different senses in this line—(1) Distributive, tout animal’= ‘chaque animal; (2) Collective, 'toutes (les) propriétés ' = ‘all qualities' (at the same time). Or the passage may be explained otherwise by taking 'tout' as equivalent in each case to 'quelconque,' Any animal has not any qualities whatever'—the statement being further explained by the next line.

23. corbeau is a 'raven'; 'corneille,' a 'rook' or 'crow.'

People

who are in the habit of prophesying 'des malheurs à venir' are often called 'croakers.'

24. à venir, 'to come,' i.e. 'future.'

XXXIV.-LE RAT DE VILLE ET LE RAT DES CHAMPS.

1. rat de ville. The 'de' joining the two words turns the second into a kind of adjective-'the town rat.'

4. reliefs

restes. Rather an obsolete word.

Cp. i. 5.

ortolan. The ortolan is a bird of passage, famous for its plump and delicate flesh.

7. à penser, 'to be imagined,' 'I leave you to picture to yourselves.' la vie. Cp. xxv. 6, 'Dieu sait la vie . . .'

9. régal. What is the plural of this word?

17. on, i.e. the people who had disturbed them.

18. rats...

The leaving out of the article and of a principal verb lends vivacity to the sentence.

en campagne, 'in the field,' i.e. back at their meal, from their hiding-places.

19. de dire, 'began by remarking.' The historic or narrative infinitive. See xx. 13.

20. rôt means literally 'roast' (joint); here used generally of food. 23. Ce n'est pas que, 'Not that I . . .'

24. fest. de roi =

'festins royaux.' Cp. 1. 1 above.

26. tout à loisir, 'quite at leisure,' i.e. I take my time over my meals. 28. corrompre = gâter. Not usual in this sense.

LINE

XXXV.-LE RENARD ET LA CIGOGNE.

'Diamond cut diamond.'

1. Compère. See xiii. 13, and compare 'Brer Fox' in Uncle Remus, where the equivalent to 'commère' is 'Sis.'

4. pour toute bes., lit. 'for all business,' i.e. for the whole 'menu;' the phrase is common. Take the words after 'brouet clair,' and translate and-you see your dinner.'

་

miette, lit. 'a crumb,' and so 'a particle,' any small quantity. 8. eut lapé. This tense, a kind of second pluperfect, is generally called the past anterior,' and is mostly used with conjunctions of time to express immediately preceding action, e.g., ' dès qu'il eut parlé,' 'as soon as he had spoken. It is used here to express the speed with which the fox devoured his meal.

10. prie, 'bids him come,' 'invites him.'

de là; used of time.

6

12. je ne fais point c., 'I don't stand upon ceremony.' A commoner phrase would be 'je ne fais point de façons.'

13. dite, appointed.'

17. bon app., i.e. il avait bon appétit.

19. mise, 'cut up'; lit. 'put.'

20. on servit, 'the dinner was served.' 'Servir' is here used absolutely. 21. à long col. Cp. 1. 7. In this line 'à' and 'de' have much the same meaning.

22. bien, easily.'

23. du sire,' of the gentleman.'

d'autre mesure, 'of different dimensions.'

25. aurait pris, 'made captive by a hen.' By the use of the conditional the improbability of such a thing is suggested. This line has become a household word in France.

26. serrant

'his tail between his legs'; lit. 'squeezing' or

'pressing' his tail.

28. la pareille, i.e. 'chose'; 'similar treatment.'

XXXVI.-LE VILLAGEOIS ET LE SERPENT.

'The serpent's tooth.'

1. manant, a 'peasant'; so called because he remained (Lat. manentem, from maneo, I remain) on the soil, or was attached to it.

2. peu sage, 'indiscreet.'