The Original Fables of La Fontaine

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For other English-language translations of this work, see Fables (La Fontaine).
The Original Fables of La Fontaine (1913)
by Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Frederick Colin Tilney
Jean de La Fontaine576027The Original Fables of La Fontaine1913Frederick Colin Tilney


CONTENTS

PAGE
The Two Mules 13
The Hare and the Partridge 15
The Gardener and His Landlord 17
The Man and His Image 20
The Animals Sick of the Plague 22
The Unhappily Married Man 25
The Rat retired from the World 27
The Maiden 29
The Wishes 31
The Dairy-Woman and the Pail of Milk 34
The Priest and the Corpse 36
The Man Who ran after Fortune and the Man who
waited for Her in His Bed
38
An Animal in the Moon 42
The Fortune-Tellers 44
The Cobbler and the Financier 47
The Power of Fable 50
The Dog Who carried His Master's Dinner 53
Thyrsis and Amaranth 54
The Rat and the Elephant 56
The Horoscope 57
Jupiter and the Thunderbolts 60
Education 63
Democritus and the People of Abdera 64
The Acorn and the Pumpkin 67
The Schoolboy, the Pedant, and the Owner of a Garden 69
The Sculptor and the Statue of Jupiter 71
The Oyster and the Pleaders 73
The Cat and the Fox 75
The Monkey and the Cat 77
The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg 79
The Dog with His Ears cropped 86
The Lioness and the She-Bear 88
The Rabbits 90
The Gods wishing to instruct a Son of Jupiter 93
The Lion, the Monkey, and the Two Asses 95
The Wolf and the Fox in the Well 98
The Mice and the Screech-Owl 100
The Companions of Ulysses 102
The Quarrel between the Dogs and the Cats and between the Cats and the Mice 106
The Wolf and the Fox 109
Love and Folly 111
The Forest and the Woodcutter 113
The Fox and the Young Turkeys 115
The Ape 117
The Scythian Philosopher 118
The Elephant and Jupiter's Ape 120
The League of Rats 122
The Arbiter, the Hospitaller, and the Hermit 124



The poet Jean de la Fontaine was born at Château-Thierry on July 8, 1621. He was a kindly, merry, and generous man and much beloved. His fables were written in verse and were published in three collections at different times of his life. Many were new versions of existing fables; but those of his later years were more often original inventions.

All in this book are of La Fontaine's own invention, although several have since appeared in collections of Æsop's fables without the acknowledgment that is La Fontaine's due.

He died on April 13, 1695, at the age of seventy-three.



LETCHWORTH

THE TEMPLE PRESS

PRINTERS

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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