Henri De La Blanchere

Memories of a Sparrow Henri De La Blanchere

Original title: Les aventures d'une fourmi rouge et les mémoires d'un pierrotAuthor: Henri de la Blanchère (1821-1880) Illustrator: A. Mesnel, Hector Giacomelli (1822-1904) Paris, Théodore Lefèvre, Librarie-Éditeur (1879)"I was born in the acclimation garden of the Bois de Boulogne. My mother had made a choice, to build her nest, of the thatched roof covering the house of a huge, but frightful bird called Marabou... Carpet under the crossed thatch, we lived in the greatest abundance; the mash of the foreign birds assembled in this garden provided my father and my tender mother with an inexhaustible mine to feed us, and the prudent sparrow woman had chosen the house of Marabou because of the proximity of the water, which allowed her to find easily at the edge the worms that we urgently need during our young age, especially at the time of growth of our feathers. My nesting companions were two brothers and two sisters, and our parents waited only a few days to show us the use of our wings. Alas! this is easier said than done!One night, the wind rose under the pressure of the storm. Carpet in the bottom of our nest, under the wings of our parents, we trembled with repeated lightning flashes and under the hot gusts that shook the house on its foundations. Faint with fear, wet with torrents of water coming through the straws and dripping on our nest, we pressed against each other without even daring to cry."CONTENTS: I. THE HOSPITALITY OF A MARABOU STORKII. MY FIRST FRIENDIII. THE ELECTION OF THE KING OF BIRDSIV. THE BIRD OF THE GOOD GODV. THE GREAT HEATHLANDSVI. THE UNKNOWN PEOPLESVII. O MISFORTUNE, BE WELCOME, IF YOU COME ALONE!VIII. DISCOURAGEMENTIX. TOO HAPPYX. HOUSEHOLDS ON HOUSEHOLDSXI. INGRATE AND COWARDXII. LAST FRIENDAbout the translator- Nicolae Sfetcu- - Contact- - Other booksPublishing House- MultiMedia Publishing