Un petit d'un petit [1]
S'étonne aux Halles [2]
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent [3]
Indolent qui ne sort cesse [4]
Indolent qui ne se mène [5]
Qu'importe un petit d'un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes. [6]
[1] The inevitable result of a child marriage.
[2] The subject of this epigrammatic poem is obviously from the
provinces, since a native Parisian would take this famous old market
for granted.
[3] Since this personage bears no titles, we are led to believe that the
poet writes of one of those unfortunate idiot-children than in
olden days existed as a living skeleton in their family's closet.
I am inclined to believe, however, that this is a fine piece of
misdirection and that the poet is actualy writing of some famous political
prisoner, or the illegitimate offspring of some noble house. The
Man in the Iron Mask, perhaps?
[4,5] Another misdirection. Obviously it was not laziness that
prevented this person's going out and taking himself places.
[6] He was obviously prevented from fulfilling his destiny, since
his is compared to Gai de Reguennes. This was a young squire
(to one of his uncles, a Gaillard of Normandy) who died at the
tender age of twelve of a surfeit of Saracen arrows before the walls
of Acre in 1191.
The d'Antin Manuscript was published in 1967 by Courtlandt H. K.
Van Rooten by Angus & Robertson (U.K.) Ltd.,
16 Ship Street, Brighton, Sussex.
It was edited and annotated
by Luis d'Antin Van Rooten.
The above poem is intended to be read aloud.
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