Montrer patte blanche
A French child's education is not complete without having learned by heart at least two or three fables by Jean de La Fontaine. Pompon, this blog's mascot, kindly illustrates the expression "montrer patte blanche" popularized in "Le Loup, le Chèvre, et le Chevreau."
Here's the fable, in short: One day a mother goat had to leave her kid home alone. Before leaving, she locked the door and told him a phrase to use as a password, with instructions not to open the door to anyone without it. A wolf who was sneaking around the house at the time, overheard the phrase. After the mother goat left, the wolf knocked at the door and repeated the password. But because he did not get the phrase just right, the young goat was suspicious and asked that he "show a white paw." The wolf could not do, so he turned and went away.
Vocabulary
une patte: a paw
un loup: a wolf
un chevreau: a kid goat
un mot de passe: a password
montrer: to show
©2012 P.B. Lecron
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