Paroles et traduction Grégoire - Le laboureur et ses enfants

Le laboureur et ses enfants

Travaillez, prenez de la peine:
C′est le fonds qui manque le moins.
Un riche Laboureur, sentant sa mort prochaine,
Fit venir ses enfants, leur parla sans témoins.
Gardez-vous, leur dit-il, de vendre l'héritage
Que nous ont laissé nos parents.
Un trésor est caché dedans.
Je ne sais pas l′endroit; mais un peu de courage
Vous le fera trouver, vous en viendrez à bout.
Remuez votre champ dès qu'on aura fait l'Oût.
Creusez, fouiller, bêchez; ne laissez nulle place
Où la main ne passe et repasse.
Le père mort, les fils vous retournent le champ
Deçà, delà, partout; si bien qu′au bout de l′an
Il en rapporta davantage.
D'argent, point de caché. Mais le père fut sage
De leur montrer avant sa mort
Que le travail est un trésor.

The Laborer and His Children

Work, my darling, and take pains with your work:
It's what you'll always need the least.
A wealthy Farmer, feeling his end was near,
Summoned his children, and spoke to them without witnesses.
Beware, he told them, of selling the inheritance
Our parents left us.
There is a treasure hidden within it.
I don't know where it is; but a little courage
Will help you find it, and you will succeed.
Stir your field as soon as the harvest is over.
Dig, search, and hoe; leave no place
Where your hand does not pass and repass.
After their father died, the sons turned the field over,
Here and there, everywhere; so much so that at the end of the year
It yielded more.
No hidden money. But the father was wise
To show them before his death
That labor is a treasure.