From: The Dial, Vol. III, No. III (Jan. 1843)
Author:
Published: E. P. Peabody 1843 Boston
WE have found these volumes very pleasant reading. The translation appears to be executed with great wit end sprightliness, and, for the most part, a happy employment of the English idioms. Occasionally a verse of unusual vigor occurs; as when, in the fable of “The Oak and the Reed,” the Oak brags,—
Dares with the mountain top
The solar blaze to stop,
And wrestle with the storm.”
We are reminded, in this connexion, of an excellent old English version of “The Lark and the Reapers,” which we lately met with, which proves how inexhaustible are these slight themes. When the lark has quieted the fears of her young, who inform her that the farmer has applied to his friends for aid,—
With such a lusty saye,
That it rejoyste her younglinges heartes
As in their neust they laye;
And much they did commende
Their mother’s lofty gate,
And thought it long til time had brought
Themselves to such estate.”
The conclusion of the same fable in the present version is lively enough. When at length the farmer and his boys resolve to reap the field themselves,—
Decamped without a trumpet sounding.”
These volumes, we think, are sure of a lasting popularity with the young, and will no doubt make acceptable Christmas and New Year’s presents.
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