Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine

In Short

Jean de La Fontaine’s collection presents four distinct poetic tales exploring marital discord, avarice, jealousy, and vanity. From an elderly judge whose invented religious calendar drives his young wife into the arms of a polite pirate, to a greedy woman outsmarted by a penniless soldier, these narratives expose human absurdities with sharp irony. Characters scheme, miscalculate, and face unexpected reversals of fortune. The collection endures through its playful cynicism, rhythmic verse, and timeless amusement at the eternal game of love, money, and deception.

The Story

The collection opens with an elderly Pisan judge named Quinzica, who marries a young, beautiful woman named Bartholomea Galandi. Recognizing his physical limitations, the judge invents an elaborate calendar of fasts, saints' days, and malignant weather to avoid marital duties, reserving only four days a year for intimacy. Despite fine dresses and coastal trips, Bartholomea finds this existence dreary. One day, while fishing on the coast, a pirate named Pagamin Montegue captures her ship. Unlike the rigid judge, the polite and affectionate pirate wins her heart completely. When Quinzica tracks her down and offers a rich ransom, the pirate offers to return her freely if she chooses her husband. Brought face-to-face with Quinzica, Bartholomea coldly rejects him, praising the pirate's superior attentions. Quinzica dies of grief, leaving Pagamin to marry the widow.

The second tale turns to financial calculation in romance. Gulphar, a wily old soldier, sets his sights on the beautiful wife of Gasperin. Because the lady is fiercely avaricious and yields only to money, Gulphar borrows one hundred pounds from Gasperin himself, promptly handing the cash to the wife as a purported gift for her husband. The next morning, she yields to the gallant. After a series of such trysts, Gulphar approaches Gasperin upon his return and asks him to cross off the repaid hundred pounds in his ledger. The wife, terrified of exposure, must confirm the payment, losing both her money and her pride to the cunning soldier.

The third narrative examines extreme jealousy. A paranoid husband monitors his young wife obsessively, surrounding her with an aging duenna and carrying a pocketbook filled with notes on female deceit. When an unknown person throws a basket of filth on the lady's dress outside a church, she seeks refuge in a nearby house while the duenna rushes home to alert the panicked husband. This filth-throwing was merely a calculated distraction orchestrated by a gallant to remove the watchful duenna. The husband discovers his precious book of cases offers no defense against such clever stratagems.

The final tale features a boastful Gascon named Dorilas, who falsely claims to have won the affections of a young, virtuous widow named Phillis. To punish his vanity, Phillis entraps him in a prank. She convinces Dorilas to spend the night in a dark room with her neighbor Eurilas, pretending to help a friend. Terrified of the husband, Dorilas spends the entire night freezing, silent, and trembling beside the snoring Eurilas. In the morning, a light reveals that Phillis herself orchestrated the deception, exposing the terrified braggart to universal ridicule and leaving him cured of his boastful habits.

How It Unfolds

The marriage mismatch The volume begins by critiquing parents who sacrifice compatibility for wealth, matching blooming youth with aged husbands. It introduces Judge Quinzica's elaborate calendar of manufactured fasts and holy days designed to excuse his own inability to satisfy his young wife.

The pirate's capture A coastal fishing excursion turns turbulent when a pirate named Pagamin seizes Bartholomea's vessel. Instead of inspiring terror, the pirate's romantic attentiveness and genuine affection quickly replace the cold neglect of her judicial husband.

The confrontation at sea Quinzica traces his wife to the pirate's quarters and offers a heavy ransom for her return. When Bartholomea coldly rejects her aging husband before the pirate, the narrative pivots sharply toward her liberation and Quinzica's eventual demise from grief.

The soldier's loan Shifting to urban romance, the wily soldier Gulphar borrows money from a trusting husband to pay the husband's avaricious wife for her favors. The scheme reaches its comic climax when the gallant publicly asks the husband to cross out the debt, forcing the trapped wife to silently agree.

The filth-strewn diversion A paranoid husband relies on a comprehensive pocketbook of female wiles and an aging duenna to guard his young wife. A strategically tossed basket of dirt creates the exact physical distraction needed to separate the wife from her constant guardian.

The terror of the dark room A boastful Gascon falls for an elaborate prank orchestrated by the widow Phillis, who tricks him into spending a harrowing night beside a sleeping, oblivious neighbor. The narrative concludes with the morning light shattering his false bravado and exposing his absolute cowardice.

The People

Judge Quinzica is a learned Pisan magistrate whose advanced age and physical impotence clash with his youthful, vibrant wife, Bartholomea. He tries to bridge the gap with wealth and a fake religious calendar, but ends up losing her entirely to a pirate and dying of a broken heart.

Bartholomea Galandi is young, noble, and full of life. Trapped by parents who prioritized status over compatibility, she wants genuine affection and freedom, which she ultimately finds with the pirate Pagamin after her capture.

Pagamin Montegue is an honorable, romantic pirate who values love above mere riches. He treats Bartholomea with kindness and wins her devotion honestly, ending up happily married to her after her first husband's passing.

Gulphar is a clever old soldier who preys on vanity and greed. He wants the avaricious wife of Gasperin without paying out of his own pocket, successfully turning her own greed against her through a brilliant financial trick.

Gasperin's wife is characterized by a fierce, transactional avarice. She rejects sighs and romantic poetry entirely, demanding cash for her favors, only to be outwitted when her lover uses her husband's own money to pay her.

The jealous husband keeps a detailed book of female tricks and employs an aging duenna to watch his wife. His extreme paranoia proves entirely useless against simple, unexpected street pranks.

Dorilas is a boastful Gascon whose false claims about conquering women lead him into a terrifying night of silent dread, ultimately curing him of his arrogance.

In Its Own Voice

And sweet SIXTEEN must SIXTY learn to love!

The narrator critiques the mercenary logic of parents who force young women into ill-matched marriages with elderly men.

A thousand times more pirate in his art, / Than Pagamin; on bleeding hearts he preys

The narrator compares the ruthless, inescapable power of Cupid to the honorable and gentle nature of the sea pirate.

Is this a time to guard it, do you say? / What pain was shown by any one, I pray;

Bartholomea dismisses her legal husband's pathetic appeal for her honor by contrasting his cold neglect with the pirate's warmth.

ZOUNDS! cried the latter, vainly I may look / To find a case like this within my book;

The paranoid husband curses his useless collection of feminine wiles when confronted with an unexpected street prank.

What It's Really About

The collection explores the futility of trying to control human desire through institutional rules, money, or paranoia. La Fontaine examines the natural clash between youth and age, demonstrating that forced marriages and rigid legalism inevitably break down when confronted with genuine feeling or clever trickery. Wealth and social status fail to secure genuine affection, while transactional avarice makes individuals vulnerable to smart manipulation. Beneath the witty plots lies a skeptical inquiry into authority: texts, calendars, and jealous systems cannot contain human impulse. Ultimately, the tales argue that life cannot be regulated by guard dogs or books of cases; human nature always finds a way to bypass artificial constraints in pursuit of pleasure and authentic connection.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers who appreciate sharp irony, nimble verse storytelling, and classical wit will find much to admire in these tales. Reading them feels like listening to a worldly, observant companion recount scandalous local gossip with a knowing smile and a complete lack of moralizing pretense. The poems move swiftly, balancing cynical observations about human greed with genuine lighthearted amusement.

Contemporary audiences should approach the book prepared for period attitudes regarding gender, marriage, and transactional relationships that reflect seventeenth-century French conventions rather than modern ideals. The verse translation carries some archaic diction and formal pacing that require patience from readers accustomed to contemporary prose. Yet, the psychological insights into hypocrisy, vanity, and the absurdity of jealousy remain strikingly fresh. Those who stay with the text are rewarded with brilliant character sketches, memorable comedic setups, and an enduring reminder that human follies change very little across the centuries.