Jean de La Fontaine

“ La Fontaine composed the most entertaining Fables ever written in any language, and made them a model of literary perfection; yet our translators and compilers have somehow neglected him. His Fables are lyric poetry of a high order, and this alone has doubtless been a barrier to a better acquaintance with his work when transferred to our own tongue. ”

“ The significant thing to keep in mind is that, for twentieth century readers, the best Fables are not merely the best ones ever written, but the best ones re-written. In other words, the Fable was for centuries an old story in a rough state, and the writers who have made it most interesting are the writers who told it over again in a manner that makes it Art. A Greek named Babrius, of whom almost nothing is known, is remembered because he collected and versified some of the so-called Fables of Aesop. ”

“ Done into prose, the Fables are no longer La Fontaine, but take their place with the many respectable, dull translations which English readers try to admire because they are classics--though the soul that made them such has been separated from the dead body. ”

“ He had been watching an ant-hill, and was so absorbed in observing a dead ant carried off by the living colonists for burial that he had forgotten his engagement.
The first six volumes of the Fables--published in 1668, when he was 47, and in Paris--were an immediate and brilliant success, at a time when French genius was in full flower. But the literary men of that golden age got their pecuniary reward not from the public, but from patrons. Later in life, when La Fontaine at last was graciously recognized by the grand monarch, he appeared before the royal presence to receive his due. ”

“ The Owl is no less pedantic perhaps, but the Lion certainly has declined in majesty--along with our human kings.
For these offenses, La Fontaine--who forgave everyone--is bound to forgive me. The most good-humored Frenchmen, he could condone all faults but dullness. That offense against French fundamental principles invariably put him to sleep--whether the bore who button-holed him was a savant of the Sorbonne or just an ordinary ass.
One thing more. This little collection from his 240 Fables is meant, first of all, for children. ”

“ Said the Gnat: "Shall I serve you up raw--
Or fried?"
It's finished. The Lion's loud roar is o'er.
He's bitten and beaten, he's sick and sore.
But a spider's web spread
Trapped the Gnat as he sped
With the news...He will never fight more--
He's dead!
The Dove And The Ant.
An Ant who in a brook would drink
Fell off the bank. He tried
To swim, and felt his courage sink--
This ocean seemed so wide.
But for a dove who flew above
He would have drowned and died.
The friendly Dove within her beak
A bridge of grass-stem bore:
On this the Ant, though worn and weak. ”

“ Everybody loved La Fontaine. Favorite of great lords and ladies, the court of Louis XIV could not make him otherwise than natural. Poor and improvident, poverty had no pangs for him. No sorrow ever gave him a sleepless hour. To the last he lived up to his nickname--Bon-homme. And it is the gentle and good man who is always looking out at us at us from the fables he refashioned for all time.
William Trowbridge Larned.
New York, July 1918.
This book contains the following Fables
from the French of La Fontaine:
The Frog Who Wished To Be As Big As The Ox. ”

“ With the Ass bearing double they jogged on again,
And once more met a critic, who said: "It is plain
Only dunces would give their poor donkey such pain.
He will die with their weight: it's a shame and a sin.
For their faithful servant they care not a pin.
They'll have nothing to sell at the fair but his skin."
"Dear me!" said the Miller, "what am I to do?
Must I suit the whole world and the world's father, too? ”

“ No apologue addressed to the mature intelligence alone, or framed to fit the society of his day, is here included.
Many books which men have agreed to call classics are seldom taken down from the shelves. ”

“ To excuse the one and to meet the other I have taken refuge in the term "adaptation"--even though the word applies only in part to my paraphrases. Some of the Fables in this book are translations in a true sense, and keep closely to the text. From others I have erased such political, mythological and literary allusions (in which La Fontaine abounds) as are either obsolete or unintelligible to a child. ”