Welcome to the fourth week of our French reading challenge! This week’s selection is Fables by French literary giant, Jean de La Fontaine.

 

In this post, like all others in the A1 French Reading Challenge series, I’ll summarise each chapter and provide a short glossary of words that I felt necessary to look up*. If I make a mistake, please be kind! I’m setting this French challenge up as a personal challenge to improve my own level. I’m no expert! 

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This book is actually the hardest of all of the selections in this challenge because of the abundant vocabulary (crickets, graze, sharpen, reeds, etc), as well as several literary devices that are employed. I spent more hours looking up new words in this book and am not entirely convinced that it could be an A1 read without the assistance provided in this post. Rest assured, the running vocabulary will save you hours and is something I wish I had access to while I was reading it! The fables are highly enjoyable and this is a perfect book for word hoarding (which is what we need- keep in mind that knowldge of 9000 word familes gives us access to about 98% of written language). 

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Quick note: For those with children, siblings, or young family members, these fables are wonderful to share! My 6-year-old daughter absolutely loves them!

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(To learn more about why I believe readers are the best way to learn a foreign language, click here. To learn about how to choose a suitable text, click here)

 

Summary (SPOILERS!) and Vocabulary

 

Fable #1: La cigale et la fourmi

 

Cricket idles away her summer of plenty while Ant laboriously prepares for the winter, and when it finally comes, Cricket finds herself at the mercy of the bitter cold.

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1. la cigale: cricket

2. la fourmi: ant

3. charmant: delightful

4. mauvesie: bad

5. pourtant: however

6. d'un ton sec: in a dry tone

7. prêter: lend

8. tendre: soft

9. je m'allonge: I lie down

10. la chaleur: warmth

11. douceur: softness

12. étoilées: starred

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Fable #2: Le Loup et l'agneau
 

A little lamb finds herself being bullied by a vicious wolf. It seems that no matter how hard she tries to reason with him, her protests are in vain. 

 

1. Le loup: wolf

2. l'agneau: lamb

3. la brebis: ewe

4. têtu: stubborn

5. vous tous: all of you
6. berger: shepherd
7. atrappe: catch
8. gorge: throat

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Fable #3: Le chêne et le roseau
 

The obnoxious old oak tree finds there to be nothing more satisfying than taunting the small reed. After all, what is more powerful than the mighty oak?

 

1. chêne: oak

2. roseau: reed

3. mince: thin

4. puissant: powerful

5. fin: thin

6. libellule: dragonfly

7. léger: light

8. dessine: draws

9. à peine: hardly

10. traits: features

11. plier: bend

12. toit: roof

13. l'orage éclate: thunderstorm breaks out

14. bords: side

15. je me plie: abide by

16. rafales: gust

17. épouvantables: horrendous

18. bouger: move

19. courber: bend

20. ouragan: hurricane

21. déracine: uproot

22. s'abat: topple

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Fable #4: Le laboureur et ses enfants
 

An old man passes and leaves his estate to his children, but before he does, he devises a cunning trick to help them see the value of hard work.

 

1. témoin: witness

2. l'endroit: location

3. la moisson: harvest

4. pelle: shovel

5. pioche: pickaxe

6. retournent: turn

7. cependant: however

8. récoltes: crops

9. vente: sale

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Fable #5: La laitière et le pot au lait
 

On her way home, a milkmaid is daydreaming about all of the riches she may one day possess. However, she is so caught up in her own fantasy world that she doesn't pay attention to what she has now.

 

1. jupon: petticoat

2. je nourris: I feed

3. poulets: chickens

4. m'élit: choose me

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Fable #6: Les deux coqs
 

Troy comes to the chicken coop in this hilarious tale of vanity.

 

1. répand: spread

2. compagnie: company

3. sombre: dark

4. honte: shame

5. il aiguise: sharpen

6. ailes: wing

7. flancs: side

8. redoutable: formidable 

9. cachette: hiding place

10. la bonté: kindness

11. fêtent: celebrate

12. maître: master

13. le hasard: chance

14. vantent: boast

15. s'attirer: attract

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Fable #7: Les deux pigeons
 

Joni Mitchel sang, "Don't it always seem to go, but you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone". The moral is very similar to the lessons learned by one brave pigeon who decided to fly from his cozy nest in search of adventure.

 

1. les épreuves: test, trial

2. les soucis: worries

3. doux: soft

4. le corbeau: raven, crow

5. pièges: traps

6. oiseaux: birds

7. autant: as much as

8. distraire: amuse

9. souvenirs: memories

10. s'éloigne: move away

11. sèche: dry

12. blé: wheat

13. un filet: net

14. volatile: bird

15. neuf: new

16. à coups: blows

17. de battes: claws

18. serres: claw

19. traîne: pull

20. disputer: fight

21. fronde: sling

22. vise: aim at  

23. pierre: stone

24. à moitié: half

25. les biens: assets

26. je me souviens: I remember

27. faisons: let's make

28. retour en arrière: flashback

29. bergère: shephard

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Fable #8: L'homme et la couleuvre
 

Physical power often trumps reason; our protestations often fall on deaf ears when the powerful don't want to listen. 

 

1. pervers: depraved

2. se laisse: let itself

3. les sots: fools

4. à quoi sert: to what purpose

5. ne sert que: that only serves

6. selon: according to

7. l'homme recule d'un pas: the man turns back a step

8. l'avis: opinion

9. soins: care

10. m'empêches-tu: you prevent me

11. brouter de l'herbe: graze in the grass

12. à pas lents: slow pace

13. je porte les charges: carry the load

14. la charrue: plough

15. fâché: annoyed

16. faisons taire: let's be quiet

17. l'arbitre: judge

18. témoignage: evidence

19. le poids: weight

20. un paysan: a farmer

21. je chauffe: I warm up

22. la hache: axe

23. la scie: saw

24. reproche: blames

25. forcément: inevitably

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Geek Corner:

The book, excluding exercises, has roughly 448 lines of text. By reading it ten times, we have read 4480 lines of French. This, plus the previous lines in the challenge, gives us a total count of 7470 + 4480 = 11950! Congratulations! We have reached our first goal of 10,000 lines! Now, let's head towards our next goal of 100,000 lines, 1 book at a time!

 

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