Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes
1841
Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes
1841
Translated by Elizur Wright
These aren't children's bedtime stories. Written in 17th-century France with a poet's precision and a satirist's sting, La Fontaine's fables use foxes, crows, grasshoppers, and wolves to dissect the follies of human society. Each tale operates on multiple levels: a charming animal narrative on the surface, but beneath it, a sharp commentary on power, vanity, greed, and the eternal dance between the clever and the foolish. The grasshopper who sings through summer while the ant toils, the fox who flatters the crow into dropping her cheese, the wolf who invents justifications for eating the lamb these are not mere moral instruction but mirrors held up to a society that recognizes itself in the beasts. La Fontaine wrote for adults who understood that wisdom rarely arrives simply and morality is rarely straightforward. Nearly four centuries later, these fables endure because human nature has not changed. The powerful still prey on the weak, vanity still opens doors to manipulation, and the question of whether to work or sing through life still divides us.
Editions
X-Ray
“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“Rien ne sert de courir il faut partir à point””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“There's nothing sweeter than a real friend:Not only is he prompt to lend”
— Jean de La Fontaine
“I don't believe that Nature's powersHave tied her hands or pinioned ours,By marking on the heavenly vaultOur fate without mistake or fault.That fate depends on conjunctionsOf places, persons, times, and tracks,And not on the functionsOf more or less of quacks.””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“Quand l'abſurde eſt outré, on lui fait trop d'honneurDe vouloir par raiſon, combattre ſon erreur:Enchérir eſt plus court, ſans s'échauffer la bile.””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“Un Gatto, che diceano il Mangialardo,facea dei Topi un così gran macello,e tanti nell’avellon’avea sospinti e sbigottiti tanti,che i pochi vivi ancoranon osavano il muso cacciar fuora.Quatti nei buchi sen morian di fame,tanta paura avean di quel, non gatto,ma carnefice infame.Un giorno tuttavia, colto il momentoche il gatto andò a far visita all’amantee stette in alto tutta la giornata,si radunano i Topi a parlamento.Il presidente ch’era una personadi gran senno, propose, e parvebello a tutti il suo consiglio,che si attaccasse al gatto un campanello,un campanel che suonae dia l’avviso ai topi di fuggire,quando il nemico accenna di venire.- Bravo, bene, benissimo! – Ciascunoapprova la mozione.Ma quando si trattò di sceglier quelloche attaccare doveva il campanello,non si trovò nessuno.O fossi matto… io no… fossi corbello…Vedendo ch’era chiacchiera perduta,il presidente leva la seduta.Ho veduto qualche altro parlamento,(non di topi) e qualche altra commissioneche venne alla precisa conclusione.A ciarlar son bravi in cento,ma diverso è ben l’affarequando trattasi di fare.””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“No está cubierto de flores el camino a la gloria””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“Raça por mim tão amada, Desta feita morrerás!» Júpiter daí a nada Fez-se menos ferrabrás.””
— Jean de La Fontaine
“trincasse, a tagarela Foi valer-se””
— Jean de La Fontaine
