Provençal song

The Crickets

In Provençal: Li Grihet

Song no. 4 Frédéric Mistral, 1855

Song no. 4 from the collection Lis Isclo d'Or by Frédéric Mistral (dates inconnues), published in 1855. Public domain. Source spelling: mistralienne, reproduced unchanged.

Text

— Mai coume vai, pichot grihet, Negre e lusènt coume jaiet, Que, de-jour, n'en disès pas uno, E que, de-tard, emé la luno, Cantas li Vèspro dóu bouié ? — Ah ! dins lou jour talo babiho Fan li tavan e lis abiho Que noste cant sarié'nterra O s'arribavo à s'enaura Nous acabarié l'auceliho — Pàuri grihet ! — Mai au moumen Que s'estrèmo avisadamen Dono Fournigo, nautre, d'aise, En esperant que tout se taise, Sus li mouto tenèn d'à ment ; E pièi, pecaire, plan-planeto Apoundèn nòsti voues naneto Pèr que brusigon un pau mai ; E la luno, en fielant si rai, Escouto nosto cansouneto.

English translation of the full text forthcoming.

Notes

Li Grihet is a dialogue poem by Frédéric Mistral, dated 1855 and dedicated to Henri Cazalis, published in the collection Lis Isclo d'Or (1876). A speaker asks the crickets why they stay silent by day and sing only at night by moonlight. The crickets answer that the daytime din of horseflies and bees would drown out their song, and that they prefer the nighttime calm, once the ants have gone home, to let their little song be heard under the moon's rays. The poem belongs to the register of animal fables and scenes that Mistral cultivated alongside his great epics.

Notable words

Provençal	French
grihet	grillon
jaiet	jais
vèspro	vêpres
tavan	taon
fournigo	fourmi
cansouneto	petite chanson

Glosses are given in French, as delivered by our lexicographic source; an English gloss is not yet available for these words.

Source: Frédéric Mistral, Lis Isclo d'Or, 1855, song no. 4. Public domain. Digitization: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lis_Isclo_d%E2%80%99Or/Li_Grihet. Transcription and formatting by Lingua Nostra.