Le rat de ville et le rat des champs Lyrics
The French town rat and country rat. The town rat invites his country friend to a fine dinner; a noise at the door sends both running; and the country rat says that he will eat quietly at home. Four verses of French, 28 lines, with an English translation.
Le rat de ville et le rat des champs
Autrefois le rat de ville,
Invita le rat des champs
D'une façon fort civile
A des reliefs d'ortolans.
Sur un tapis de Turquie,
Le couvert se trouva mis...
Je laisse à penser la vie
Que firent nos deux amis...
Le régal fut honnête,
Rien ne manquait au festin;
Mais quelqu'un troubla la fête
Pendant qu'ils étaient en train.
A la porte de la salle
Il entendirent du bruit;
Le rat de ville détale,
Son camarade le suit.
Le bruit cesse on se retire,
Rats en campagne aussitôt;
Et le citadin de dire:
Achevons tout notre rôt.
C'est assez, dit le rustique,
Demain vous viendrez chez moi;
Ce n'est pas que je me pique
De tous vos festins de roi,
Mais rien ne vient m'interrompre;
Je mange tout à loisir.
Adieu donc. Fi du plaisir
Que la crainte peut corrompre.
In English
Once upon a time the town rat
Invited the country rat
In a very polite way
To the leftovers of ortolans.
On a Turkey carpet
The table was laid...
I leave you to imagine the life
That our two friends led...
The treat was a decent one,
Nothing was missing at the feast;
But someone spoiled the party
While they were at it.
At the door of the hall
They heard a noise;
The town rat scampers off,
His friend follows him.
The noise stops, they come away,
The rats set out again at once;
And the city one says:
Let us finish all our roast.
That is enough, says the country one,
Tomorrow you will come to my house;
Not that I look down
On all your kings' feasts,
But nothing comes to interrupt me;
I eat everything at leisure.
So goodbye. Away with the pleasure
That fear can spoil.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/le-rat-de-ville-et-le-rat-des-champs/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Tune
- A storytelling tune, brisk in the escape and calm in the last verse
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
What Does Le rat de ville et le rat des champs Mean?
Sounded out, the title is luh rah duh veel ay luh rah day shahn: the rat of the town and the rat of the fields. This is the story that English-speaking children know as the town mouse and the country mouse. The country friend is invited to dinner: reliefs d'ortolans are leftovers from a meal of ortolans, small songbirds that were once a rich person's dish. The table is laid on a tapis de Turquie, a Turkish carpet.
In the second verse a noise at the door spoils the meal, and the town rat détale (runs off) with his friend behind him. When the noise stops, the town rat suggests going back to the roast. The country rat says no. He will invite his friend home tomorrow, where nothing interrupts: "Je mange tout à loisir", I eat everything at leisure. The song ends with the country rat's goodbye to a pleasure spoiled by fear.
The town rat is a polite host, and the country rat is not rude to him; he is only happier at home. The song says that and leaves it there.
History and Origin
The words are Jean de La Fontaine's fable Le Rat de ville et le Rat des champs, the ninth fable in Book I of his Fables, first published in 1668. The songbook sets them to a tune for children to sing.
They are in Weckerlin's songbook of French children's songs. A Plon edition of that book dated 1886 is listed by the BnF, the French national library.
Learning Activities
- Two voices: one child speaks as the town rat, the other as the country rat, and each reads their lines.
- Act the noise: everyone freezes on the noise at the door, then runs on the spot as the two rats scamper.
- Town or country?: ask where each child would rather eat, and why.
- Draw two homes: draw the carpeted hall of the town rat and the quiet home of the country rat.