ce . . . femme, what a woman is
11. Achille, Achilles, the hero of Homer’s Iliad. — Lycomêde, Lycomedes, king of Scyros, with whom, according to post-Homeric tradition, Achilles, disguised as a girl, was concealed by his mother Thetis to prevent his going to the siege of Troy.
12. Tannhauser, Tannhduser, a knight of German legend, hero of Wagner’s opera, lived for a time among the voluptuous delights of the enchanted Venusberg.
27-32. Ce livre . . . beauté. The book that George found may have been Sir Thomas Malory’s famous prose-epic. Le Morte d'Arthur, full of tales of chivalrous adventures of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Page 62. — 8. Savoyards. These natives of Savoy play much the same rôle as itinerant Italians do here with their hand organs and monkeys.
14. science. Anatole France always retained keen interest in science, but early lost his faith that it could solve the mystery of the universe.
Page 63. — 10. qu’ ... vapeurs. See note on page 18, line 25.
17-21. Des. In a large majority of cases, as here, the partitive article is best left untranslated, since English usually implies ‘some’ rather than expresses it.
Page 64. — 16-17. devait d’. See note on page 13, line 7.
17. échappé aux. After words implying separation à regularly means from.
18. Aristote, (384-322 b.c.) Aristotle, famous Greek scholar and philosopher.
NOTES
Page 65. — 17. Ne ... adieu, because adieu usually implies a final parting.
Page 66. — 8. qui brodait. French often uses a short relative clause where English uses a present participle: embroidering.
Page 67. — 9. Vous n’avez . . . The talk of the faithful old squire Jean in this chapter, and that of the old nurse Maurille in the next, exemplifies admirably Anatole France’s sympathetic and intuitive interpretation of the spirit of the lowly and simple.
Page 69. — 5. la, familiar in direct address.
10. la Saint-Jean, feast-day of Saint John, June 24. Such expressions are elliptical for la fête de Saint-Jean, etc.
Page 70. — 13. y, usually referring to a thing, is used occasionally referring to a person just mentioned; here, sa mère.
Page 71. — 13. eut. The past defini tes of avoir, connaître and savoir emphasize action, rather than state, so sharply that frequently they equal respectively ‘got,’ ‘became acquainted with,’ and ‘learned,’ rather than ‘had’ and ‘knew.’
