se mit à 'began to

XXIII. LE LION ET L'ANE CHASSANTS. ^sop's fables. 259. and Phsedrus Lib. II. 1. Note the présent participle in the plural. See note on page 88 fable 15 line 31. Line 1. se mit en tête, 'took it into his head'.

2. sa fête 'his saint's day', The word fCte, when used in the sensé of la fête de quelqu'im, should never be translated by 'birthday'. The French keep no birthdays, not even the 21st birthday. What is called la fête d'une personne is kept on tlie Saint's day of the same name as the person. Thus ail the Jean's bave their fête day ou St. John's day, June 24th.

3. ce ne sont pas, This construction bas been somewhat erroneously explained. Sont is not put in the plural because its subject is moineaux, which is in the plural. The plain fact is that in sucb expressions as c'est moi, c'est toi, c'est lui, c'est nous, c'est vous which correspond to the English it is I, it is we &c., we are in presenee of an impersonal verb which is always it is, and in French c'est. Only as French pays a great deal of attention to euphony, sont is used instead of est when it cornes before a noun in the plural, or a pronoun in the 3rd person plural as ce sont eux.

7. à la voix de Stentor, 'with a stentorian voice'. 'Stentor was one of the Greek warriors at the siège of Troy. He was chiefly remarkable for his powerful voice which

Notes. 93

Homer says to hâve beeu equal to the voice of 50 ordinary men. He served as a trumpet to the Greeks. Having attempted to rival the iinmortal lungs of Mercury he lost his life in tliat contest. Mars, according to the same poet, shouted like 10 000 men when lie was wounded by Diomedes.

Line 8. messer for massive.

8. fit office de cor, 'answered the purpose of a hunting horn*.

20. c'est bravement crié, 'you hâve shouted splendidly'. 24. encor = bien que.