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お伽唱歌 狐と鴉
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Nursery Song: The Fox and the Crow (Otogi shôka Kitsune to karasu)
お伽唱歌 狐と鴉
Designer: Nakazawa Hiromitsu (Japanese, 1874–1964)
Composer: Takano Jun (Japanese, active in the 20th century)
Lyricist: Furansu geibunsha (Japanese)
Translator: Senoo Kôyô (Japanese, 1891 – 1961)
Publisher: Gakueisha kagekibu (Japanese)
Composer: Takano Jun (Japanese, active in the 20th century)
Lyricist: Furansu geibunsha (Japanese)
Translator: Senoo Kôyô (Japanese, 1891 – 1961)
Publisher: Gakueisha kagekibu (Japanese)
Japanese
Taishô era
1916 (Taishô 5), October 30
Medium/Technique
Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 36.5 × 21.9 cm (14 3/8 × 8 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1101
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores
DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
“Nursery Song, The Fox and the Crow.
One day, a crow in a tree,
Holding meat in his mouth;
A fox caught the scent, and,
Sweet-talked the crow thus.
‘Oh, Mr. Crow, hello,
You are so beautiful,
You are so splendid,
If your singing voice.
Sounds as beautiful,
As your avian feathers,
Truly you’re the bird king,’
The crow was thus fooled.
As he opened his beak,
To show his beautiful voice,
The meat he had held,
Dropped with a thud.
The Fox, his mouth full, said,
‘Oh, Mr. Crow, thanks,’
Those who flatter,
Spend their days betraying others.
Though the disappointed crow,
Surely regretted it,
One’s always sorry afterwards,
And the Fox was away far."
“Nursery Song, The Fox and the Crow.
One day, a crow in a tree,
Holding meat in his mouth;
A fox caught the scent, and,
Sweet-talked the crow thus.
‘Oh, Mr. Crow, hello,
You are so beautiful,
You are so splendid,
If your singing voice.
Sounds as beautiful,
As your avian feathers,
Truly you’re the bird king,’
The crow was thus fooled.
As he opened his beak,
To show his beautiful voice,
The meat he had held,
Dropped with a thud.
The Fox, his mouth full, said,
‘Oh, Mr. Crow, thanks,’
Those who flatter,
Spend their days betraying others.
Though the disappointed crow,
Surely regretted it,
One’s always sorry afterwards,
And the Fox was away far."
Marks
"Hiro" on upper right
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)