The frogs who want a king
The frogs who want a king (French Les Grenouilles qui demandent un Roi ) is the fourth fable in the third book of the Fables Choisies collection of fables , Mises En Vers by Jean de La Fontaine .
The fable was politically explosive at the time and called the monarchy of Louis XIV into question. La Fontaine not only characterizes the frogs but gives them life by describing their posture to express their feelings and their judgments. The frogs' stupidity is only a reflection of their appearance: their large round eyes, their foolish figures on legs, make them look ridiculous. La Fontaine takes up the material of an older fable by Aesop or Phaedrus (Latin: Ranae Regem petierunt , German: The frogs ask for a king ), which was supposed to reassure the Athenians because they were tired of their tyrants. With the unspoken moral argument, the author avoids the censorship common in the 17th century . The fable is characterized by a realistic and bizarre evocation of nature:
"They are tired of democracy, the frogs shouted a thousand tones,
and they did not rest until Jupiter made them submissive to a master.
A king of the greatest peace fell from heaven;
but his fall makes such a noise that they, swamp-dwellers, their band
always fearful and foolish,
quickly lost in the water,
under the reeds, in canes,
in the holes of the morass
and long did not dare to face the guest
to look; for to them he looked like a giant.
There was only one log in the moor;
but his mute dignity aroused fear and horror
at the first one who dared to come out of his cave to look at him.
He approaches him, but very despondent;
a second, third follows, soon comes chased over
a whole bunch, and the smart ones
are finally full of courage and jump full of confidence
brazenly turned on her king's shoulder.
The good gentleman puts up with it and remains silent.
Soon the people are giving God a lot of headache:
"Give us a king who can move and speak!"
The prince of the gods sends the crane to the cheeky;
he begins to stab her
and to eat after desire.
As the frogs lament,
says Jupiter: "Well, what do you want?
Shall we?
Just give in to your whims?
The wisest advice would have been
to preserve your old state.
Since this does not happen now, it must be enough for you
that your first prince was full of mildness and meekness.
Keep this one so as not to
to get a worse one in the end! ""
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean de La Fontaine: Fables Choisies, Mises En Vers. Pp. 94f , accessed on January 12, 2020 (French).
- ^ Jürgen Grimm , Susanne Hartwig: French literature history . Springer-Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-476-00733-9 , pp. 182 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).
- ↑ Les grenouilles qui demandent un roi - Jean de La Fontaine. Retrieved January 12, 2020 .
- ↑ " https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/content/pageview/5215911 "