Cendrillon (French Children's Song) Lyrics
Cinderella sings in this French children's song, where she is called Cendrillon. She tells who does the housework, how she serves the whole house and why she is known as the little girl by the fire. The page gives the first and third of the book's three verses.
Cendrillon (French Children's Song)
Mes soeurs, du soin du ménage
Ne s'occupent pas du tout.
C'est moi qui fais tout l'ouvrage,
Et pourtant j'en viens à bout.
Attentive, obéissante,
Je sers toute la maison;
Et je suis votre servante,
La petite Cendrillon.
Et je suis votre servante,
La petite Cendrillon.
Je suis modeste et soumise,
Le monde me voit fort peu,
Car je suis toujours assise
Dans un petit coin du feu;
Cette place n'est pas belle,
Mais pour moi tout paraît bon:
Voilà pourquoi, l'on m'appelle
La petite Cendrillon,
Voilà pourquoi, l'on m'appelle
La petite Cendrillon.
In English
My sisters take no care at all
Of the housework.
I am the one who does all the work,
And yet I manage it.
Attentive and obedient,
I serve the whole house;
And I am your servant,
Little Cinderella.
And I am your servant,
Little Cinderella.
I am modest and meek,
The world sees very little of me,
For I am always sitting
In a little corner by the fire;
This place is not pretty,
But to me everything seems good:
That is why they call me
Little Cinderella,
That is why they call me
Little Cinderella.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/cendrillon-french-childrens-song/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- A plain, steady tune, sung like a small speech, with the refrain lines sung twice
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does Cendrillon (French Children's Song) Mean?
Cendrillon is the French name of Cinderella, and this song is sung in French. A rough way to say it is sahn-dree-YOHN, with a soft nasal ending. The song keeps to one small scene and never mentions a ball, a prince or a slipper.
The singer is Cendrillon herself, speaking about her own day. Her sisters (mes soeurs) do none of the housework, and she does all of it and still finishes it (j'en viens à bout). She is attentive and obéissante, which means watchful and obedient, and she serves the whole house as a servante, a servant. The third verse gives the song's own answer to the question of her name: she is modeste et soumise (modest and meek), the world sees little of her, and she always sits dans un petit coin du feu, in a small corner by the fire. "That is why they call me little Cendrillon."
The song has three verses and this page gives the first and the third. The one between them is left out, and the two that remain read as one complete little speech.
A parent can use it to talk about fairness at home. Who does the chores in this house? Does everyone notice the person who tidies up?
History and Origin
The Cinderella story most families know in French is Charles Perrault's Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre, which appeared in 1697 in his collection Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The girl in this song has the same name, but the song itself only gives her own words.
It comes from Chansons de France pour les petits Français, a songbook whose tunes were arranged by Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (1821 to 1910, born in Guebwiller in Alsace).
Learning Activities
- Chore round: each child names one job they do at home, and the group sings or says the refrain 'Little Cendrillon' after each one.
- Tidy-up song: sing the first verse while putting toys back in a box, and stop when the box is full.
- Draw the corner: draw a small corner of a room with a fireplace, and talk about why a quiet corner might be nice or lonely.
- Two Cinderellas: tell the English fairy tale in a few sentences, then ask what this song adds that the story does not say.