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Lou Clap  
(The Pebble)
Nissart lyrics by Antonin Steve, known as Toni Baloni, music by La Belugada. Traditional from County of Nice.
| 1st verse (talked) |
Un clap ben pla e sueli,
Estirassa das aigos tempouralas,
Où bort d’un tranca
S’es aresta. | | A pebble well flat and smooth,
Dragged along by stormy waters,
On the bank of a mountain stream (1)
Stopped itself. |
Chorus |
La belle Antounina, mariaù de poù,
Venent si lavar li pens en la louona,
La belle Antounina, mariaù de poù,
Ve aquel bel clap, lou pilha
E s’en freta li talouns. | | Pretty Antonine, just married,
Coming and wash her feet in the brook (2),
Pretty Antonine, just married,
Sees this beautiful pebble, takes it
And rubs her heels. |
2nd verse (talked) |
Es de savel fi, fa bel pè !
Lou si pouorta.
En cami, em’un aùtre cairou,
Li fa una dent.
Ensi, sera toujourn lou siù clap,
S’en rasclara li pens cada journ.
E l’a pava subre lou siù fenestrou. | | It is of fine sandstone, it makes fine foot!
She takes it.
On the way, with another stone,
She makes a jag.
So, it will always be her pebble,
She will scrape her feet every day.
And she puts it on [the edge of] her little window. |
3rd verse (talked) |
Lou chat de maisou l’a fa calar fouora.
Lou siù pairastre l’a trouva
E l’a manda après un ca
Per lou faire escapar.
Lou marchandot l’a pilha per pesar la lana. | | The house cat knocked it outside.
Her father-in-law found it
And threw it at a dog
To make it run away.
The pedlar took it for wool weighing. |
4th verse (talked) |
Lou pichin pastre l’a manda per acanar lai nues.
Lou mestre de la nouguièra l’a bisca
E, de rabia, a manda lou clap où diaù
Per que noun servesse plus. | | The little sheperd threw it to shake down walnuts.
The master of the walnut tree scolded him
And, in his rage, threw the pebble to the devil
For it never serves again. |
5th verse (talked) |
La vieilha lou recampa : va just per cougnar
Lou siù tourn da filar.
De fach, la bouona frema era la mairastra
De la jouve d’enans.
E lou lendema, Antounina retrova lou siù clap
Denta, pla e sueli,
Estaca où tourn em’un fil de lana filaù. | | The old woman picks it up: it just wedges
Her spinning wheel.
In fact, the good woman was the mother-in-law
Of the girl met shortly.
And the day after, Antoinette finds again her pebble
Jaged, flat and smooth,
Tied to the spinning wheel with a yarn. |
6th verse (talked) |
Que voules,
Couro sourtès un clap doù clapier,
Vira, tourna,
Lou bouon diù ou lou diaù
N’en fan sen que vouoloun,
Ma fara pa de moufa ! | | What do you expect?
When you take off a pebble from the stone heap,
Let turn,
God or the devil
Do what they want with it,
But it will not make moss (3)! |
1. Tranca: mountain stream, gully erosion caused by torrential waters, duct for flow of natural waters.
2. Louona: pool of water in a river or a brook, puddle, pond.
3. Moufa: moss, mould. Here, meaning is the one of the proverb: “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
| Bibliography | | • | Steve (Antonin), known as Toni Baloni, Cuents d'en amou – Contes d'en haut, Breil-sur-Roya, Les Éditions du Cabri, 1994, p. 22-23. |
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© 2001-2024 Jean-Gabriel Maurandi.
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