Le Renard [English translation]

The sail flaps in the wind, the Fox1 yelps in the field.

Red fabric in the wind, wind of hurricane, wind of war, law of giants.

The Loire2 flows red, the Fox sinks its teeth in.

Drink the blood red, the blood of the Norsemen3, drowned in the mists of time4.

They turned Vannes into smoke, from Christmas till Midsummer5,

Landevennec and Noirmoutier too, from Easter till August,

laid waste to farms and orchards, and set camp at Dol.

They reaped the hay, ate the wheat

and drank the wine of the French

The sail flaps in the wind, the Fox yelps in the field.

Red fabric in the wind, wind of hurricane, wind of war, law of giants.

The Loire flows red, the Fox sinks its teeth in.

Drink the blood red, the blood of the Norsemen, drowned in the mists of time.

They mauled and violated maidens and lasses in the fields,

they ransacked Rennes and maimed burghers and peasants,

they took Redon, Redon drowned in the blood-laced Villaine.

I put on black leather and steel. Together with Englishmen and kinsmen,

we crossed the sea and marched on Nantes and its white walls.

We stabbed our lance and stepped back from dawn till dusk.

Ablaze with summer fire, I drank from the stream

gushing off a poplar's heart

in the field of Anian6

The sail flaps in the wind, the Fox yelps in the field.

Red fabric in the wind, wind of hurricane, wind of war, law of giants.

The Loire flows red, the Fox sinks its teeth in.

Drink the blood red, the blood of the Norsemen, drowned in the mists of time.

1. "Le Renard" was the nickname of Alain Barbetorte (Alan twisted beard), a 10th century warlord from Brittany who was forced into exile in England after Viking raiders ransacked a number of cities in the region. He eventually managed to find enough support to raise troops and defeat the invaders in 937. He then founded the dukes of Brittany dynasty.2. lots of geographic locations are cited (rivers and cities), in the current region of French Brittany and a bit further South. I don't think a forest of footnotes would add much to the story.3. "Normand" designates the inhabitants of the current Normandy region, which got its name after some Viking warlord was allowed to settle there in exchange for protection against more raiders, a few decades before the events told in this song. The focus of raiders attacks shifting to Brittany is probably a direct consequence. So the "Normands" were actually protecting (part of) the French territory against more "Norsemen", which is the term I used to avoid the confusion with a war between Normandy and Brittany.4. lit. "whom the mist drowns in time", or perhaps an archaic variant of "may the mist drown them in time"5. some dates refer to names of saints (assuming those didn't shift too much since the 15th century!). Again I don't think more footnotes would help much6. a real location near Nantes, but I couldn't find anything about that particular symbol or legend

• Artist:Tri Yann
• Album:Belle et rebelle (1990)