Le Loup, la Chèvre et le Chevreau Bilingue Français/Anglais

Le Loup, la Chèvre et le Chevreau

La bique, allant remplir sa traînante mamelle,
Et paître l’herbe nouvelle,
Ferma sa porte au loquet,
Non sans dire à son biquet:
Gardez-vous, sur votre vie,
D’ouvrir que l’on ne vous die,
Pour enseigne et mot du guet:
Foin du loup et de sa race!
Comme elle disoit ces mots,
Le loup, de fortune, passe,
Il les recueille à propos,
Et les garde en sa mémoire.
La bique, comme on peut croire,
N’avoit pas vu le glouton.
Dès qu’il la voit partie, il contrefait son ton,
Et, d’une voix papelarde,
Il demande qu’on ouvre, en disant: Foin du loup!
Et croyant entrer tout d’un coup.
Le biquet soupçonneux par la fente regarde;
Montrez-moi patte blanche, ou je n’ouvrirai point,
S’écria-t-il d’abord. Patte blanche est un point
Chez les loups, comme on sait, rarement en usage.
Celui-ci, fort surpris d’entendre ce langage,
Comme il étoit venu s’en retourna chez soi.
Où seroit le biquet, s’il eût ajouté foi
Au mot du guet que, de fortune,
Notre loup avoit entendu?

Deux sûretés valent mieux qu’une;
Et le trop en cela ne fut jamais perdu.

The Wolf, The Goat, And The Kid

As went the goat her pendent dugs to fill,
And browse the herbage of a distant hill,
She latch’d her door, and bid,
With matron care, her kid;–
‘My daughter, as you live,
This portal don’t undo
To any creature who
This watchword does not give:
“Deuce take the wolf and all his race!”‘
The wolf was passing near the place
By chance, and heard the words with pleasure,
And laid them up as useful treasure;
And hardly need we mention,
Escaped the goat’s attention.
No sooner did he see
The matron off, than he,
With hypocritic tone and face,
Cried out before the place,
‘Deuce take the wolf and all his race!’
Not doubting thus to gain admission.
The kid, not void of all suspicion,
Peer’d through a crack, and cried,
‘Show me white paw before
You ask me to undo the door.’
The wolf could not, if he had died,
For wolves have no connexion
With paws of that complexion.
So, much surprised, our gormandiser
Retired to fast till he was wiser.
How would the kid have been undone
Had she but trusted to the word
The wolf by chance had overheard!
Two sureties better are than one;
And caution’s worth its cost,
Though sometimes seeming lost.