Grandville's animals

Chorus

BUFFON and CUVIER

list

all the animals by family,

but they have a singular resemblance

to GRANDVILLE'S people.

Sing of these perfect images!

Sing of these originals

who often surpass the beasts,

by their merits or their faults.

The wide-maned LION

is a model for the elegant.

The burning TIGER and the PANTHER

have the cruelty of tyrants.

The BLOODHOUND, alert and rapid,

pursues us all like a bailiff,

and the greedy usurer

has the heart of a true LYNX.

Many the tenor sings like a CAT.

The MONKEY looks like an old dancer.

The WHITE RAT has a walk-on part.

The uncouth BEAR looks like some authors.

And how many people in the changing crowd

do we find among the animals.

That PIGEON is too docile,

those PARROTS annoying.

The EAGLE looks like a relic of the empire.

The jealous heart looks like a CUCKOO,

the anarchist is a somber VAMPIRE

and the envious person is a black OWL.

The VULTURE is selfish,

the proud resembles a PEACOCK.

The DUCK is a journalist.

The happy man is a RARE BIRD indeed. (Chorus)

The GRASSHOPPER is a circus rider,

the FLYCATCHER a sluggard,

the GUDGEON is a shareholder

and the WHITING a bad hairdresser.

The SNAKE is cantor in church,

the SNAIL is a Swiss guard or a porter,

and the FLY caught in a web is a debtor.

LEECH means doctor,

LIZARD, whippersnapper,

TURTLE, employee.

The SHARK isn't too fussy about what he eats.

To finish our parade,

here are a few flattering comparisons.

The DRAGONFLY is the ingénue

and many travelers look like WOOD DOVES.

Let's assign the DOVE to the novice,

the BEE to the hard worker,

the WARBLER to the soprano

and the SWALLOW to the prisoner.

We'll offer the faithful LAMB

or the SWAN to the beauty,

the TURTLEDOVE to a faithful married couple

and the POODLE to friendship. (Chorus)