La Fontaine
La Fontaine is the more commonly known name for Jean de La Fontaine, a popular French poet and fabulist, a teller of fables. La Fontaine’s Fables, also simply called Fables (and in the original French, Fables de La Fontaine), was translated by Elizur Wright, and published in 1882, after a previous edition from 1841 went out of print.
Born into a wealthy family in Château-Thierry in 1621, Jean de La Fontaine had a comfortable life, and was the oldest of the family. Although he first began a career as a ranger, upon taking up writing, he was part of the Rue du Vieux Colombier, a quartet of famous French literary figures, and published his first epic, Adonis, in 1658. La Fontaine’s Fables were greatly influenced by those fables of Aesop, wherein lessons of mortality are extended. Scholars cite his second collection was inspired by East Asian works. The Fables are rich with satire, and were published originally in twelve volumes, with the first published in 1668. The total collection ranges around 240 poems in their original French, and some aren’t truly fables, but musings or small poems. The most present element in his fables and tales is irony, and although he was inspired by others, the Fables are one of the most revered French works to date.
Fairy tales by La Fontaine
- The Ass Loaded with Sponges
- The Ape
- The Ass and the Dog
- The Acorn and the Pumpkin
- The Ass Dressed in Lion's Skin
- The Animals Sick of the Plague
- The Ass and the Little Dog
- The Ass Carrying Relics
- The Ass and the Masters
- The Battle of the Rats and Weasels
- The Bear and the Two Companions
- The Bat and the Two Weasels
- The Bird Wounded by an Arrow
- The Cock and the Fox
- The Camel and the Floating Sticks
- The Cunning Fox
- The Countryman and the Serpent
- The Carter in the Mire
- The Cat and the Fox
- The Cat and the Two Sparrows
- The Council Held by the Rats
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Dog and His Master's Dinner
- The Two Dogs and the Dead Ass
- The Dog Whose Ears Were Cropped
- The Dragon with Many Heads
- Death and the Woodman
- The Eagle and the Magpie
- Education
- The Eagle and the Owl
- The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot
- The Ears of the Hare
- The Fox, the Flies and the Hedgehog
- The Fox, the Monkey and the Animals
- The Fool Who Sold Wisdom
- The Fox, the Wolf and the Horse
- The Fox and the Turkeys
- The Heron
- The Head and the Tail of the Serpent
- The Hog, the Goat and the Sheep
- The Horse and the Wolf
- The Hare and the Partridge
- The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep
- The Hornets and the Bees
- The Lion and the Gnat
- The Lion Beaten by the Man
- The Lion and the Hunter
- The Lioness and the Bear
- The Lobster and Her Daughter
- The Lion and the Monkey
- The Lion, the Wolf and the Fox
- The Lion and the Ass Hunting
- The Lion Going to War
- The Monkey and the Leopard
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Mice and the Owl
- The Miser and the Monkey
- The Man and the Wooden God (La Fontaine)
- The Man and His Image
- The Oyster and the Litigants
- The Old Cat and the Young Mouse
- The Old Women and Her Servants
- The Old Man and the Ass
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Sun and the Frogs
- The Spider and the Swallow
- The Sick Stag
- The Shepherd and the Lion
- The Stag and the Vine
- The Swan and the Cook
- The Shepherd and the Sea
- The Shepherd and His Flock
- The Shepherd and His Dog
- The Two Goats
- The Thieves and the Ass
- The Tortoise and the Two Ducks
- The Two Asses
- The Two Mules
- The Two Rats, the Fox and the Egg
- The Two Bulls and the Frog
- The Wolf, the Goat and the Kid
- The Wolf and the Lean Dog
- The Wolf and the Fox
- The Woods and the Woodman
- The Wallet
- The Woodman and Mercury
- The Wolf Accusing the Fox
- The Wolf Turned Shepherd
- The Weasel in the Granary
- The Wax Candle
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