Fables Françaises du Moyen Âge: Les Isopets: Edition Bilingue

Abstract

This paperback is bilingual except for Macho's lengthy life of Aesop, which is presented here only in translation. There are twelve fables here from Marie de France, nine from the Isopet de Lyon, two from the Isopet de Chartres, six from the Isopet II de Paris, ten from Isopet I, four from Avionnet, and nine from Macho. Appendices offer notes on the fables, an AI, a table of fables of La Fontaine for which there is a medieval version, and a bibliography. The T of C is at the very back. I am surprised at how simple and direct the fables of Marie are here. I am glad to find her version of "The Priest and the Wolf" (118-19), in which the priest tries to teach the wolf to read. All the wolf can say is "Lamb"! Her "Mitred Cat" (128-29) is new to me: the offer of an episcopal blessing represents another of the cat's ploys to entice the mice, and they are smart to run away. The Isopet II de Paris presents a new viewpoint on the hares and frogs even in the title it gives the fable: "Les Lièvres qui croyaient que les Grenouilles s'étaient noyées" (189-92). One of the hares here says to his comrades: "Let us not kill ourselves like these beasts who had no other recourse." The same hare goes on to persuade that generally good times follow the bad and that they can hope for better. Isopet I's "Muleteer and Mule" (238-41) has the mule telling an insect that he fears his rider more than the bombastic insect. Macho's "Fishing Wolf and Lion" (272-79) involves a clever fox tying a basket to the wolf's tail and having him run along the river. As he does so, the fox puts rocks into the basket but tells the wolf that the basket is catching fish. When the wolf is sufficiently weighted down, the fox runs to the town to announce that the villagers can take vengeance on the wolf that has plagued them. The story goes on through two answering phases of the wolf and then the fox advising the sick lion to use his enemy's skin as a poultice. The fox wins out. Otherwise the fables here seem to be the standard ones in the tradition.