The Hornets and the Bees.
This fable refers in its last two verses to the previous story: The Oyster and the Litigants. But this one was in the first book of fables published by La Fontaine in 1668, while the fable it refers to was published 10 years later. Both are probably inspired by two fables from Aesop.
Les Frelons et les Mouches à Miel
À l’œuvre on connaît l’artisan.
Quelques rayons de miel sans maître
se trouvèrent
Des frelons les réclamèrent ;
Des abeilles s’opposant,
Devant certaine guêpe on traduisit la cause.
Il était malaisé de décider la chose :
Les témoins déposaient qu’autour de ces rayons
Des animaux ailés, bourdonnants, un peu longs,
De couleur fort tannée, et tels que les abeilles,
Avaient longtemps paru. Mais quoi !
dans les frelons
Ces enseignes étaient pareilles.
La guêpe, ne sachant que dire
à ces raisons,
Fit enquête nouvelle, et, pour plus de lumière,
Entendit une fourmilière.
Le point n’en put être éclairci.
De grâce, à quoi bon tout ceci ?
Dit une abeille fort prudente.
Depuis tantôt six mois que
l’affaire est pendante,
Nous voici comme aux premiers jours.
Pendant cela le miel se gâte.
Il est temps désormais que le juge se hâte :
N’a-t-il point assez léché l’ours1 ?
Sans tant de contredits,
et d’interlocutoires,
Et de fatras, et de grimoires,
Travaillons, les frelons et nous :
On verra qui sait faire, avec un suc si doux,
Des cellules si bien bâties.
Le refus des frelons fit voir
Que cet art passait leur savoir ;
Et la guêpe adjugea le miel à leurs parties.
Plût à Dieu qu’on réglât ainsi tous les procès !
Que des Turcs en cela l’on suivît la méthode !
Le simple sens commun nous tiendrait
lieu de code.
Il ne faudrait point tant de frais :
Au lieu qu’on nous mange, on nous gruge ;
On nous mine par des longueurs :
On fait tant, à la fin, que l’huître est
pour le juge,
Les écailles pour les plaideurs.
The Hornets and the Bees
At his products, you know the craftsman.
A few masterless honeycombs
were found
Hornets claimed them;
Bees opposing each other,
In front of a wasp, the cause was brought.
It was hard to decide the thing:
The witnesses testified that around these rays
Winged animals, buzzing, a little long,
Of a very leathery color, and like bees,
Had long appeared. But what!
in the hornets
These signs were the same.
The wasp, not knowing what to say
to these arguments,
Started new investigation, and, for more light,
Heard an anthill.
The point could not be clarified.
Please, what good is all this?
Said a very cautious bee.
For almost six months
the case has been pending,
Here we are as in the early days.
Meanwhile, the honey spoils.
Now is the time for the judge to hurry:
Hasn't he licked the bear1 enough?
Without so many contradictions, and interlocutions,
And jumbles, and grimoires,
Let's work, the hornets and us:
We'll see who can do it, with such a sweet juice,
Cells so well built.
The refusal of the hornets showed
That this art passed their knowledge;
And the wasp adjudged the honey to the bees.
Would to God that all lawsuits were thus settled!
From the Turks in this we followed the method!
Simple common sense would serve
as our code.
It would not take so much expense:
Instead we are eaten, we are cheated;
We are undermined by lengths:
We do so much, in the end, that the oyster is
for the judge,
And the shells for the litigants.
First Fable: The Circada and the Ant
Previous fable: The Oyster and the Litigants
Next Fable: The Oak and the Reed
The Life of Aesop, by Jean de La Fontaine - part 5
It happened some time later that the philosopher had a great disagreement with his wife. The philosopher, being feasting, put aside some delicacies, and said to Aesop, go take this to my good female friend. Aesop went to give it to a little bitch who was his master's delight. Xantus, on his return, did not fail to inquire about his present, and whether it had been found good. His wife understood nothing of this language; Aesop was brought in to clear it up. Xantus, who was only looking for a pretext to have him beaten, asked him if he had not expressly said to him: Go and take these delicacies from me to my good female friend. Aesop thereupon replied that the good friend was not the wife, who, for any pretext, threatened to divorce; it was the female dog, who endured everything, and who came back to caress after being beaten. The philosopher could find no reply to this, but his wife flew into such a rage that she withdrew from him. There was no relative or friend through whom Xantus could speak to her, no reasons or prayers gaining anything. Aesop thought of a stratagem. He bought a lot of game, as if for a considerable wedding, and did so much that he was met by one of his mistress's servants. The latter asked him why so many preparations. Aesop told him that his master, unable to force his wife to return, was going to marry another. As soon as the lady heard this news, she returned to her husband, out of a spirit of contradiction or out of jealousy. It was not without keeping her good to Aesop that every day played new tricks on his master, and every day saved himself from punishment by some stroke of subtlety. It was not possible for the philosopher to confuse him.
On a certain market day, Xantus, who intended to regale some of his friends, commanded him to buy the best, and nothing else. I will teach you, says the Phrygian to himself, to specify what you want, without relying on the discretion of a slave. He, therefore, bought only tongues, which he had prepared in all sauces; the appetizer, the second dish, the entremets, everything was just tongues. The guests at first praised the choice of this dish; in the end, they were disgusted. Did I not command you, said Xantus, to buy the best? Hey! what is better than the tongue? replied Aesop. It is the bond of civil life, the key to the sciences, the organ of truth and reason: by it, cities are built and policed; one instructs, one persuades, one reigns in the assemblies, one discharges the first of all the duties, which is to praise the gods. Well ! said Xantus (who pretended to catch him), buy me tomorrow the worst: these same people will come to my house, and I want to diversify.
The next day Aesop had only the same dish served again, saying that language is the worst thing in the world: it is the mother of all disputes, the nurse of trials, and the source of divisions and wars. If it is said to be the organ of truth, it is also that of error, and, what is worse, of calumny. By it one destroys cities, and one persuades evil things. If on the one hand, it praises the gods, on the other it utters blasphemies against their power. Someone from the company told Xantus that he really needed this servant, for he knew best how to exercise the patience of a philosopher. What are you bothered about? resumed Aesop. Hey! find me, said Xantus, a man who doesn't worry about anything.