Nicolette, à la vesprée, [English translation below]
S`allait promener au pré,
Cueillir la pâquerette, la jonquille et le muguet.
Toute sautillante, toute guillerette,
Lorgnant ci, là de tous les côtés.
Rencontra vieux loup grognant,
Tout hérissé, l`oeil brillant:
"Hé là! ma Nicolette, viens-tu pas chez Mère-Grand?"
A perte d`haleine, s`enfuit Nicolette,
Laissant là cornette et socques blancs.
Rencontra page joli,
Chausses bleues et pourpoint gris:
"Hé là! ma Nicolette, veux-tu pas d`un doux ami?"
Sage, s`en retourna, très lentement, le coeur bien marri.
Rencontra seigneur chenu,
Tors, laid, puant et ventru:
"Hé là! ma Nicolette veux-tu pas tous ces écus?"
Vite fut en ses bras, bonne Nicolette,
Jamais au pré n`est plus revenue.
English translation
Nicolette, at vespers time ,
Went aroaming in the field,
To pick daisies, daffodils and lilies of the valley.
Merrily she skipped along, listlessly she tripped along,
Glancing here, there, and everywhere.
Growling old wolf came along,
With bristling hair and sparkling eyes:
"Hello there my Nicoletta, won`t you come to Grandmother`s house?"
Nicolette ran off, quite out of breath,
Dropping her cornette* and white clog shoes.
The she met a pretty page,
With blue hose and grey doublet :
"Hello there my Nicoletta, won`t you have a kind lover ?"
Like a good little girl she turned away, but slowly and sore of heart.
Last met she white-haired gent,
Ugly, wry, vile, corpulent:
"Hello there my Nicoletta, don`t you want all this gold?"
She ran swiftly into his arms, our good Nicoletta,
and never came back to the field.
credits
from While my cat gently snoozes,
released February 24, 2015
Maurice Ravel (composer)
dwschorale (performer)
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