The council of rats
The Council of Rats (French Conseil tenu par les Rats ) is the second fable from the second book of the Fables Choisies collection of fables , Mises En Vers by Jean de La Fontaine .
The subject has been taken up earlier; it can be found in the Dialogus Creaturarum (1480), in Laurentius Abstemius (1440–1508) and in the Ysopet under the title "The mice who had formed a council against the cat", as well as in the fable of Deschamps , which was sent to that of La Fontaine remembers. The fable is not found in Aesop or in Phédre . It tells in an epic-funny way how the rat race was once severely decimated by a hangover and how the surviving rats were starving because they no longer dared to leave their den. Since the situation was getting worse, they took counsel how they the cat a collar could tie around the neck to hear him in time when sneaking and being able to get to safety. However, not a single rat dared to carry out the plan, and so the meeting broke up without resolving the problem. The poet concludes with the proposition at the end of the fable:
“If you don't dare to do something, you break up.
Meetings a lot
I saw this one, without purpose or aim,
not only from rats, no, from wise magistrates,
even by trained diplomats.
If it is a question of wise advice - councilors will never break.
But there is a determined, fresh act - yes, friend, then no one is to be spoken! "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean de La Fontaine: Fables Choisies, Mises En Vers. P. 47 , accessed on January 4, 2020 (French).
- ^ Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire: Oeuvres complètes de Eustache Deschamps: publiées d'après le manuscrit de la Bibliothèque nationale . Firmin Didot et Cie, 1878 ( google.de [accessed January 4, 2020]).
- ↑ " https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/5190638 " pp. 58-59