Brave Margot [English translation]

Maggie, the young shepherdess,

Finding a little cat in the grass

Who had just lost its mother,

Adopted it.

She opened her collar

And laid it against her breast.

It was all the poor girl had

For a pillow.

The cat, taking her for her mother,

Began to nurse right away.

Moved, Margot let it continue.

Good Margot.

A hick passing by,

Finding this an unusual sight,

Went off to tell the town.

And the next day...

When Margot undid her blouse

To suckle her kitten,

All the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

And Margot, who was simple and wise,

Assumed it was to see her cat

That all the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

The schoolmaster and his boys,

The mayor, the beadle, the coalman

Completely neglected their work

To see it.

The postman, normally so swift,

To see it, stopped delivering

The letters that no one

Would have read anyway.

To see it, God forgive them,

The "Children of Heart", in the middle

Of the Holy Sacrifice abandoned

The holy place.

The gendarmes, even the gendarmes,

Who are by their nature such twits,

Were touched by the charms

Of the lovely scene.

When Margot undid her blouse

To suckle her kitten,

All the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

And Margot, who was simple and wise,

Assumed it was to see her cat

That all the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

But the other women of the town,

Deprived of their husbands and lovers,

Patiently held grudges.

Then one day, drunk with anger,

They armed themselves with clubs

And savagely sacrificed

The kitten.

The shepherdess, after many tears,

Consoled herself by taking a husband

And no longer unveiled her charms

For anyone but him.

Time passed by the memories,

The event was forgotten.

Only the elderly still tell

Their grandchildren.

When Margot undid her blouse

To suckle her kitten,

All the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

And Margot, who was simple and wise,

Assumed it was to see her cat

That all the men, all the men of the village

Were there, la la la la la la,

Were there, la la la la la.

• Artist:Georges Brassens