| Caillou, genou, chou, pou, joujou, bijou,
| Pebble, knee, cabbage, louse, toy, jewel,
|
| Répétait sans fin le petit hibou.
| Repeated the little owl endlessly.
|
| Joujou, bijou, pou, chou, caillou, genou,
| Toy, jewel, pou, cabbage, pebble, knee,
|
| Non, se disait-il, non, ce n’est pas tout.
| No, he thought, no, that's not all.
|
| Il y en a sept pourtant, sept en tout:
| There are seven yet, seven in all:
|
| Bijou, caillou, pou, genou, chou, joujou.
| Jewel, pebble, louse, knee, cabbage, toy.
|
| Ce n’est ni bambou, ni clou, ni filou…
| It's neither bamboo, nor nail, nor trickster...
|
| Quel est donc le septième? | So what is the seventh? |
| Et le hibou,
| And the owl,
|
| La patte appuyée au creux de sa joue,
| The paw pressed in the hollow of his cheek,
|
| Se cachait de honte à l’ombre du houx.
| Hiding in shame in the shade of the holly.
|
| Et il se désolait, si fatigué
| And he was sorry, so tired
|
| Par tous ses devoirs de jeune écolier
| By all his schoolboy duties
|
| Qu’il oubliait, en regardant le ciel
| That he forgot, looking at the sky
|
| Entre les branches épaisses du houx,
| Between the thick branches of the holly,
|
| Que son nom, oui, son propre nom, hibou,
| That his name, yes, his own name, owl,
|
| Prenait, lui aussi, un X au pluriel. | Also took an X in the plural. |