Le Renard et les Raisins

Certain Renard gascon, d’autres disent normand,
Mourant presque de faim, vit au haut d’une treille
Des Raisins mûrs apparemment,
Et couverts d’une peau vermeille.
Le galand en eût fait volontiers un repas;
Mais comme il n’y pouvait atteindre:
"Ils sont trop verts, dit-il, et bons pour des goujats."

Fit-il pas mieux que de se plaindre?

The Fox and the Grapes

A certain Gascon Fox, a Norman one others say,
Famished, saw on a trellis, up high to his chagrin,
Grapes, clearly ripe that day,
And all covered with purple skin.
The rogue would have had a meal for the gods,
But, having tried to reach them in vain,
"They’re too green," he said, "and just suitable for clods."

Didn’t he do better than to complain?