Le petit âne gris [English translation]

Let me tell you this story

I heard

From my deep memory

I'll turn this into song

Everything starts in Provence(1),

With sheeps,

In the south of France,

In the country of santons(2).

When it went to the domain

There was a great flock

Barns were full of

Ewes and lambs

It used to be the the flock head

From the very beginning of the sunrise,

Pulling his cart,

With a flawless devotion

When it was time for transhumances,

It walked away with lot of enthusiasm,

Climbing up the Durance(3),

With honesty and bravery

But one day, from Marseille(4),

Some men came over

As the farm was old enough

Owners sold it

But it stayed in the village

People were attached to it

Valiant, though it was getting on its age

And though it was sad

It was just like a gospel,

Living on humility,

It carried out tasks as often as it could

For the roadmender

This respectable life

One night, has finished

In the bottom of a barn,

Lonely, it layed down

Poor beast of burden,

It closed its eyes

Said its farewells to humans,

Without getting farewells back

Mmh mmh mmmh mmh...

This inglorious song

Has told you the life

Has told you the story

Of a little grey donkey...

~~~~

(1) : the Provence is a southeast region of France.

(2) : "santons" are the lucky guys who happily live in the Provence (well, actually, I don't if they live happily x3 I DON'T CAAAAAAAAARE !!)

(3) : the Durance is a southeast river of france that flows into the Rhône. (As it exists a provencal term to call "Durance", no doubt it's close to the Durance LOL ;D)

(4) : Marseille is the name of a town, same, in the southeast of France. (For your own culture, know that there's a very known soap called "soap of Marseille"... even though Marseille inhabitants haven't really been the creators of this kind of soap heeheehee :3)

• Artist:Hugues Aufray