If you like this sort of thing (and if you don't, you should
) here are a couple of books I've loved for many years:
Mots d'Heures: Gousses, Rames, The d'Antin Manuscript
N'Heures Souris Rames by Ormonde De Kay
The second one is long out of print, but you might find it in a used bookstore. I've treasured these for decades and think they're absolutely hilarious.
Just for grins, I'll excerpt just a bit from the first book. It's all utterly tongue in cheek of course, but supposedly an enigmatic set of medieval French verses that have been annotated by a later author.
Jacques s'apprête
Coulis de nos fêtes.
1
Et soif que dites nos lignes.
2
Et ne sauve bédouine tempo
3 y aussi,
Telle y que de plat terre, cligne.
4
1.
Coulis, a sort of strained broth. Jacques was either a sauce chef or an invalid.
2. Jacques was also an alcoholic, since his thirst is beyond description.
3. He was fond of Arab music.
4. He believed the earth was flat. The last word of the line, meaning "wink" is obviously a stage direction. Poor Jacques, whoever he was, was obviously considered a fool.
Obviously, the better you understand (and can pronounce) French, the more this stuff appeals.
For example, in the second line, "soif" is "thirst" in French, and the third note has "Bedouin tempo", denoting Arab music. "plat terre" would be "flat earth". Well, you get the idea.
For those whose French is a bit rusty, the actual pronunciation of the lines would be, more or less:
J
ack Sprat
Could eat no fat.
His wife could eat no lean.
And so between them both
They licked the platter clean.
The book's title, of course, is Mother Goose Rhymes.
