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Adrien wrote The Tree of the Choctaw in 1839. It shows his early
concern for the Chacta people, as well as his understanding of the
complex ecological system they were part of. Here in both the original Creole and the English translations for excerpts of The Tree of the Choctaw from Adrien's first book of Creole poetry, Les Savannes. |
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| From Les Savanes |
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L'ARBRE DES CHACTAS
C'était un arbre immense; Arbre aux rameaux sans nombre, Qui sur tout un désert projetait sa grande ombre. ... Sous son dôme sonore, en l'ardente saison, Il pouvait abriter, endormis sur les herbes, Tout le peuple Chactas et ses troupeaux superbes. Dans ses feuilles, sa mousse, entre tous ses rameaux, Vivaient, rampaient, grimpaient des milliers d'anima Insectes et serpents, oiseaux et bêtes fauves, ... Un homme aux muscles forts, un homme à rude tâche, Suant des mois entiers, l'abattit de sa hache! Il l'abattit enfin; et puis, s'assit content; Car, dans l'arbre, il voyait quelques pièces d'argent! Oh! L'argent, c'est le dieu qui domine chaque àme; C'est le dieu de l'enfant, de l'homme et de la femme |
THE TREE OF THE CHOCTAWS
It was an immense tree;
Tree with the branches without a number, Which on a whole desert projected its great shade. ... Under its sound dome, in the burning season, It could shelter, deadened on grasses, All the superb Chactas people and his herds. In his sheets, its foam, between all his branches, Lived, crawled, climbed thousands of animals; Insects and snakes, birds and wild beasts all, ... A man with the strong muscles, a man with hard task, Sweating the whole month, cut it down with his axe! He cut down it finally; and then, sat down content; Because, in the tree, he saw some silver coins! Oh! The money, it is the god who dominates each àme; It is the god of the child, the man and the woman |
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| Complete translations of Les Savanes are available on the Books page. |
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