French to English: Le Petit Poucet -- Hop-o'-My-Thumb | |
Source text - French Il était une fois un bûcheron et une bûcheronne qui avaient sept enfants tous garçons. L’aîné n’avait que dix ans, et le plus jeune n’en avait que sept.
On s’étonnera que le bûcheron ait eu tant d’enfants en si peu de temps ; mais c’est que sa femme allait vite en besogne, et n’en faisait pas moins que deux à la fois.
Ils étaient fort pauvres, et leurs sept enfants les incommodaient beaucoup, parce qu’aucun d’eux ne pouvait encore gagner sa vie. Ce qui les chagrinait encore, c’est que le plus jeune était fort délicat et ne disait mot : prenant pour bêtise ce qui était une marque de la bonté de son esprit.
| Translation - English Once upon a time, there was a lumberjack and his wife, who had seven children, all of them boys. The oldest was only ten years old, and the youngest was only seven.
One might be surprised that the lumberjack had had so many children in such little time; but that is because his wife was quick at this job and had no less than two at a time.
They were very poor, and their seven children much inconvenienced them, because none of them could yet earn a living. What bothered them still was that the youngest was very delicate and spoke not a word. They took for stupidity what was really a good trait of his spirit.
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