La Jument de Michao


La Jument de Michao or Le Loup, le Renard et la Belette is a recent Breton adaptation of two different Western French traditional songs, also found in Brittany, the original one may be a medieval French song of Burgundy origin: J'ai vu le loup, le renard, le lièvre. The integration in the Breton patrimony was made under the shape of a song deduct typical of Upper Brittany, but in other French regions too. The music dances on the rhythm of the An dro, one of the most known Breton round dances.
It is about a parody of liturgical Dies Irae, whose origin would go back up to the fifteenth century in the country of Beaune and of which there are numerous variants in the French regions.

Lyrics

;French
C'est dans dix ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
C'est dans neuf ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré
La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin
L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira
...
;English
In ten years, I'll go away

I hear the wolf and the fox singing
I hear the wolf, the fox and the weasel

I hear the wolf and the fox singing
In nine years, I'll go away

Michao's mare went through the meadow
Michao's mare and its little foal

Went through the meadow and ate up all the hay
Winter will come, guys, winter will come

Michao's mare will regret it
...

Records