Brassens put to music nine verses of this famous poem written by Victor Hugo in 1828. As the poem is much admired for its beauty, I have added the verses which Brassens did not include. For some the poem may be read as a salutary warning not to transgress the rules of the church. It would seem however that Hugo’s intent was to protest against education which instilled fabricated terrors in the minds of young children at an age when they had no defence. It is not difficult to guess which of the two was the interpretation of Georges Brassens 127 years later.
I am unable to find a video of Brassens for this song. I think the lyrics are clear on the following video
La légende de la nonne - The legend about the nun
Venez, vous dont l'œil étincelle,( 1)
Come near, you whose eyes sparkle bright
Pour entendre une histoire encor,
To hear me tell another story,
Approchez, je vous dirai celle
Gather round, I will tell the one
De Doña Padilla del Flor.
Of Doña Padilla del Flor
Elle était d'Alanje, où s'entassent
She came from Alanje, where pile high
Les collines et les halliers.
The hillsides and the brushwood
Enfants, voici des bœufs (2) qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls (3)
Il est des filles à Grenade,
There are girls in Grenada
Il en est à Séville aussi,
There are some in Seville as well
Qui, pour la moindre sérénade,
Who for the slightest serenade
À l'amour demandent merci;
Cry out to love for mercy
Il en est que parfois embrassent,
Some of them there are boldly kissed
Le soir, de hardis cavaliers.
At even, by those who pay them court
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Ce n'est pas sur ce ton frivole
It is not with such frivolity
Qu'il faut parler de Padilla,
That we should speak of Padilla
Car jamais prunelle espagnole
For never a Spanish eye
D'un feu plus chaste ne brilla;
Has shone with a light so chaste
Elle fuyait ceux qui pourchassent
She fled from those men who chase
Les filles sous les peupliers.
The girls beneath the poplars
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Elle prit le voile à Tolède,
In Toledo she took the veil
Au grand soupir des gens du lieu,
To deep sighs from the local men
Comme si, quand on n'est pas laide,
As if, when one is not plain,
On n’avait droit d'épouser Dieu.(4)
You had no right to wed the Lord
Peu s'en fallut que ne pleurassent
They were very close to weeping
Les soudards et les écoliers.
Common lads and educated too
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Or, la belle à peine cloîtrée,
Now, the fair maid only just cloistered,
Amour en son cœur s'installa.
Love came and settled in her heart
Un fier brigand de la contrée
A proud brigand from the region
Vint alors et dit : "Me voilà !"
Came just then and said: « Here I am ».
Quelquefois les brigands surpassent
Sometimes you find brigands exceed
En audace les chevaliers
Noble knights in daring
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Il était laid: les traits austères,
Ill favoured : with his face austere
La main plus rude que le gant ;
His hand rougher than a glove
Mais l'amour a bien des mystères,
But love has mysteries aplenty
Et la nonne aima le brigand.
And the nun fell for the brigand
On voit des biches qui remplacent
You see some does who replace
Leurs beaux cerfs par des sangliers.
Their fine deer for rough wild boar
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
La nonne osa, dit la chronique,
The nun was bold, the chronicle tells
Au brigand par l'enfer conduit,
To the brigand, by hell led on
Aux pieds de Sainte Véronique
At the feet of Saint Veronica
Donner un rendez-vous la nuit,
To make a rendez-vous at night
À l'heure où les corbeaux croassent,
At the hour when the crows caw loud
Volant dans l'ombre par milliers.
Flying in thousands in the dark
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Or quand, dans la nef descendue,
Now when, she came down in the nave
La nonne appela le bandit,
The nun called out the bandit’s name
Au lieu de la voix attendue,
Instead of the voice expected
C'est la foudre qui répondit.
T’was a thunderbolt that replied
Dieu voulut que ses coups frappassent
God wanted that his blows to strike down
Les amants par Satan liés.
The lovers by Satan conjoint
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Cette histoire de la novice,
This story of the novice
Saint Ildefonse, abbé, voulut
Saint Ildefonse, the priest, wanted
Qu'afin de préserver du vice
In order to preserve from vice
Les vierges qui font leur salut,
Virgins who seek their salvation
Les prieures la racontassent
Prioresses to tell the tale
Dans tous les couvents réguliers.
In all regular convents
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers.
Cover up your red overalls
Verses from the poem of Victor Hugo written in 1828
1955 - Chanson pour l'Auvergnat,
This poem is regarded as one of Hugo’s most beautiful poems. Unfortunately the best verses are the later ones that Brassens did not include. It would have been a very long song if he had!
In these verses the poetic imagination of the great man of French literature takes flight as he describes the nightmarish torments undergone by the tragic lovers as they emerge from the jaws of hell each night in a quest to meet together, eternally frustrated. As well as the epic horror there is also the lyrical pathos of two human beings, who represent the oppressed humanity close to Hugo’s heart
COMPLETING VICTOR HUGO’S POEM
(In the following verses I have not repeated the translation of three verses included in Brassens’ song)
In order to read the poem in full we need to go back to the verse where Dona Padilla had planned the meeting with her lover:
Padilla voulait, anathème !
Padilla wanted- anathema !
Oubliant sa vie en un jour,
Forgetting her life in one day
Se livrer, dans l'église même,
To submit in the church itself
Sainte à l'enfer, vierge à l'amour,
Saintly to hell, virginal to love,
Jusqu'à l'heure pâle où s'effacent
Until the pale hour when burn out
Les cierges sur les chandeliers. –
The candles on the candlesticks
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Or, quand, dans la nef descendue,
La nonne appela le bandit,
Au lieu de la voix attendue,
C'est la foudre qui répondit.
Dieu voulut que ses coups frappassent
Les amants par Satan liés. –
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls!
Aujourd'hui, des fureurs divines
Nowadays, with furies divine
Le pâtre enflammant ses récits,
The shepherd impassioning his tales
Vous montre au penchant des ravines
Points out on the slope of the ravines
Quelques tronçons de murs noircis,
A few remains of blackened walls
Deux clochers que les ans crevassent,
Two steeples that the years have gnawed
Dont l'abri tuerait ses béliers. –
Whose shelter would kill his rams
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Quand la nuit, du cloître gothique
When night, on the gothic cloister
Brunissant les portails béants,
Burnishing the gaping portals
Change à l'horizon fantastique
Changes on the eery horizon
Les deux clochers en deux géants ;
The two steeples to two giants
A l'heure où les corbeaux croassent,
The time of day when the crows caw loud
Volant dans l'ombre par milliers… -
Flying in thousands in the darkness
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Une nonne, avec une lampe,
A nun, holding a lamp
Sort d'une cellule à minuit ;
Comes from a cell on midnight
Le long des murs le spectre rampe,
Along the walls the spectre creeps
Un autre fantôme le suit ;
Another phantom follows
Des chaînes sur leurs pieds s'amassent,
Chains upon their feet are stacked
De lourds carcans sont leurs colliers. –
Heavy iron yokes form their collars
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
La lampe vient, s'éclipse, brille,
The lamp comes, is hid, shines
Sous les arceaux court se cacher,
Neath the arches runs for cover
Puis tremble derrière une grille,
Then dithers behind a grill
Puis scintille au bout d'un clocher ;
Then sparkles at the end of a steeple
Et ses rayons dans l'ombre tracent
And its beams in the darkness trace
Des fantômes multipliés.
Phantoms in countless numbers
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Les deux spectres qu'un feu dévore,
The two spectres devoured by fire
Traînant leur suaire en lambeaux,
Trailing their shrouds in tatters
Se cherchent pour s'unir encore,
Seek once more to be together
En trébuchant sur des tombeaux ;
By staggering over tombstones ;
Leurs pas aveugles s'embarrassent
Their blind footsteps lose their way
Dans les marches des escaliers.
On the steps of the stairways
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Mais ce sont des escaliers fées,
But these are fairy staircases
Qui sous eux s'embrouillent toujours ;
In confused tangle neath them,
L'un est aux caves étouffées,
One to the suffocating cellars
Quand l'autre marche au front des tours
When the other leads to the front of the towers.
Sous leurs pieds, sans fin se déplacent
Beneath their feet is a constant shift
Les étages et les paliers
Of levels and of landings.
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Elevant leurs voix sépulcrales,
Raising their sepulcral voices
Se cherchant les bras étendus,
Seeking each other, arms outstretched,
Ils vont… Les magiques spirales
They go… The magic spirals
Mêlent leur pas toujours perdus ;
Merge their steps forever lost:
Ils s'épuisent et se harassent
Grown weary they exhaust themselves
En détours, sans cesse oubliés. –
In detours, always forgotten
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
La pluie alors, à larges gouttes,
The rain falls then in big drops
Bat les vitraux frêles et froids ;
Beats the stained panes frail and cold
Le vent siffle aux brèches des voûtes ;
The wind whistles through gaps in vaults
Une plainte sort des beffrois ;
A moan comes from the belfries
On entend des soupirs qui glacent,
One hears sighs which make blood run cold
Des rires d'esprits familiers
Laughter of ghostly spirits. –
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Une voix faible, une voix haute,
One voice weak, one voice loud
Disent : "Quand finiront les jours ? »
Say : “When are the days to end?”
Ah ! nous souffrons par notre faute ;
Ah ! We suffer through our own fault
Mais l'éternité, c'est toujours !
But eternity, is always !
Là, les mains des heures se lassent,
There the hands of the hours tire
A retourner les sabliers…" –
Of turning round the sandglasses
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
!
L'enfer, hélas ! ne peut s'éteindre.
Hell alas can never burn out
Toutes les nuits, dans ce manoir,
All the nights in this old house
Se cherchent sans jamais s'atteindre
They seek each other never to reach
Une ombre blanche, un spectre noir,
A shadow white, a spectre black
Jusqu'à l'heure pâle où s'effacent
Until the pale hour when die out
Les cierges sur les chandeliers. –
The candles upon their candlesticks
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Si, tremblant à ces bruits étranges,
If trembling at these strange sounds
Quelque nocturne voyageur
Some nocturnal traveller
En se signant demande aux anges
Crossing himself asks the angels
Sur qui sévit le Dieu vengeur,
On whom the avenging God deals so harsh
Des serpents de feu qui s'enlacent
Serpents of fire which writhe together
Tracent deux noms sur les piliers. –
Trace two names upon the pillars
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Children here is cattle coming by
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Cover up your red overalls
Cette histoire de la novice,
Saint Ildefonse, abbé, voulut
Qu'afin de préserver du vice
Les vierges qui font leur salut,
Les prieures la racontassent
Dans tous les couvent réguliers. –
Enfants, voici des bœufs qui passent,
Cachez vos rouges tabliers !
Translation Notes La nonne
1) « vous dont l'oeil étincelle » The nun is teaching happy young children
2) « bœufs qui passent » Some critics have expressed amazement that a learned man like Hugo should think that it is cows that are provoked by the colour red, when it is bulls. In English we say “It is like a red rag to a bull”. The critics miss the point of the poem that their teacher is deliberately filling the defenceless minds with irrational fears to exert discipline. These two lines become the refrain at the end of each verse, for the poet to remind the reader, that, however dramatic the words, all that has gone before is all made-up.
3) “vos rouges tabliers” The children would wear smocks in their lessons.
4) « épouser Dieu » When a novice nun made her vows, the ritual was of marriage to Jesus Christ and a ring was put on her finger.
5) Sainte Véronique. They are to meet under the statue of Saint Veronica.
6) « Cette histoire de la novice, Saint Ildefonse, abbé, voulut » This last verse is also the last verse of Hugo’s poem. Here Hugo gives the name of the church dignitary who made up this horror story of the vengeance of Jesus Christ if one of his brides committed adultery. He also states the purpose: to frighten any nuns tempted to break their vows
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