Connaisez vous Julie Lapin et ses amis Lièvre et Dame Écureiul? Bien sûr, they’re only our old friends Grey Rabbit, Hare and Squirrel. Searching for “petit lapin gris” out of curiosity, I was pleased to find LGR was translated into French. I tried doing the same for Spanish, but no luck. Little Grey Rabbit was also translated into German, and Japanese. In my experience, picture books are worthy and fun aids for studying foreign languages.
The French editions were published by Librarie Gründ and translated by Maryam Ghassemi. Gründ translated four stories: The Hare, the Squirrel, and the Little Grey Rabbit, How Little Grey Rabbit got back her Tail, and Hare’s Great Adventure, the Story of Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog. Here are the French titles:
Comment Julie Lapin perdit sa queue
Comment Julie Lapin retrouva sa queue
Comment Lièvre échappa au renard
Comment Doupiquant regagna sa maison
Margaret Tempest’s illustrations were used and Alison’s Uttley’s text from the Heineman editions. So they are unabridged, take in case:Comment Julie Lapin perdit sa queue includes the part about Horse chestnut tree leaves that Grey Rabbit would like to use for dinner, but cannot reach. The illustrations are unaltered and English remains on the canisters of tea and coffee in Grey Rabbit’s house.
Names
“Doupiquant” is Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog, and I just love saying that name it sounds so cute. Dou for soft, and piquant for prickles. Sage Hibou for Wise Owl. Dame Écureuil is interesting; I’m not sure if Ghassemi is designating her as a female squirrel or if “Dame” is a title. I love the idea of Squirrel having a title; it suits her fine ways very much.
Why Julie instead of Lapin Gris? I think because Julie is a very old name with Latin roots that suits the stories, because the animals (mostly Moldy Warp) are always digging up Roman stuff like the coin they used to make the bell that got Grey Rabbit’s tail back.
Songs
I anticipated the omission of Grey Rabbit’s Primrose song but it was translated too.
“Primevères, primevères, Jolies primevères, Cuillez-les et pressez-les, Et faites de la liqueur dorée.”
They did omit the foreword by Alison Uttley. It would’ve been interesting to see it translated, but it does make me wonder how many target age children actually read the foreword by themselves, or it if that is more aimed at parents reading aloud to their children.
The endpapers have the ink drawings of Grey Rabbit’s house signed “Margaret Tempest”. It’s very pretty and reminds me of toile fabric. I love detailed endpapers. I remember my childhood edition of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and Tiger Too had a map of the Hundred Acre Woods printed on the endpapers that I pored over before and after the story.
They are all out of print, but one can find these Gründ editions d’occasion on Amazon marketplace or eBay. Here is the ISBNs for the books:
2-7000-4207-7 – Comment Julie Lapin retrouva sa queue
2-7000-4208-5 – Comment Julie Lapin perdit sa queue
2-7000-4205-0 – Comment Lièvre échappa au renard
2-7000-4206-9 – Comment Doupiquant regagna sa maison
Grey Rabbit in German
Disclaimer: I don’t speak German and used a free online translator, so the reflect that quality.
Published in 2013 Rosa und ihre Freunde: Hasengeschichten(Rosa and her friends: Hare Stories) is currently out of print. Judging by the title and the amount of pages (197) it is a collection of LGR stories in a single volume. Squirrel (Eichhörnchen) and Hare (Hase) are direct translations, but Rabbit is named Bunny Rosa, and initially I thought it was a flower association, but rosa means pink in German, not any old pink but according to *Professor Nemitz of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar it is a “bright, soft, peaceful, sweet, and harmless” shade of pink, I think which suits Rabbit fairly well. The book cover is pink, and uses a Margaret Tempest illustration of Rabbit and Moldy Warp from How Little Grey Rabbit Got Back her Tail. The yellow primroses coordinate with the yellow lettering. Overall it looks cheery.
ISBN 978-3845502533 – Rosa und ihre Freunde: Hasengeschichten
Grey Rabbit in Japan.
I really wish I could read kanji. I wonder if LGR is simply Usagi, or perhaps she’s called Usa-ko? Either way she was popular in Japan, according to an article published by the Telegraph in 2015, Uttley enjoyed “unshakeable success in Japan…”and the books generated income that caused the Alison Uttley Trust to rest on its laurels for some years.” The translations of Uttley’s other pictures books, novels, (A Country Child, Little Red Fox, Tim Rabbit), her biographies and the merchandise produced by Japanese company Sankyo is evidence of the success in Japan. Additionally, if you search for the Japanese editions of LGR books you’ll find more variety than the French editions. They offered both Collin’s editions with Margaret Tempest’s illustrations, presumably the entire set of the Little Grey Rabbit Library (you know the ones that resemble 80’s nursery wallpaper) and another one using Faith Jacques’ illustrations. Both the Japanese and English editions are available for purchase through Amazon Japan.
I like to imagine in the 80’s LGR would’ve appealed (and still does) to fans of Sylvanian Families and 
Maple Town—both centered around anthropomorphic animals living in a Victorian-ish environment. Even 
Sanrio (of Hello Kitty fame) produced a character called Marron Cream in the 80’s. Marron Cream is a kindred spirit of LGR—she wears a Victorian dress and apron and is usually engaged in old-timey domestic activities.
It’s always fun to see how a character is translated and received beyond their country of origin. N’est pas? That’s all for now, until next time.
Sincerely,
Primrose
references: A Brief History of the Color Pink. Alice Bucknell. November 2017.
The Renaissance of Beatrix Potter’s great rival. Nicolette Jones. January 2015.
Pictures of French Editions are my own. Maple Town, Marron Cream and Japanese edition of Little Gray Rabbit used without permission, if they’re yours, please let me know and I will remove them.
Little Grey Rabbit Scholar 