Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine

In Short

This verse collection presents witty, worldly tales of marital mishap, secret lovers, and mistaken identities in provincial France. Through lively poetic narrative, husbands discover past indiscretions, wealthy fathers pass down cynical contracts to keep peace at home, and elaborate deceptions go hilariously awry in darkened caverns. The collection endures through its sharp psychological acuity, sparkling irony, and a lighthearted refusal to condemn human weakness, treating domestic folly with timeless comedic verve.

The Story

In the first tale, a blissful young pair named Damon and Aminta live comfortably with Aminta's wealthy parents. After a year of harmony, Damon confesses a past indiscretion involving a wood, a nymph, and a little girl still living. Stung, Aminta retaliates by confessing her own pre-marital secret: a sprightly youth who left her with a little boy. Enraged by this symmetry, Damon runs into the street, straps a large pack-saddle to his back, and bellows that he is saddled to a gathering crowd. Aminta's mother soon arrives to scold her daughter for such unpardonable indiscretion, confessing that she herself had three children before marriage and never told her husband. Overhearing this from the doorway, the father promptly fastens a saddle-girth around his waist and rushes out to shout that he is girth'd.

The second tale turns to a citizen blessed with a fortune and a growing family. When his young son needs a tutor, the parents hire a smart young man well-versed in Ovid, who uses his position to win the heart of the household's daughter. A pregnancy soon ensues, sending the father into a furious rage. Unwilling to let the penniless tutor marry into wealth, the family hastily marries the pregnant girl to a rich, unsuspecting suitor who knows nothing of her condition. Four months later, a baby arrives. The outraged husband flies to his father-in-law for a divorce, but the older man calmly offers a reassuring precedent: he presents a stamped contract from his own father used to smooth over a precisely identical domestic disgrace with a cash settlement. Pacified by the bond, the new husband departs completely relieved.

The final tale explores the playful tricks of Dame Fortune and blind Cupid in Marseilles. Clidamant, a wealthy man blessed with a charming wife, pursues his wife's maid, Alice, offering a hundred crowns for a tryst in a dark cavern. Alice plots with her mistress to stage a classic quid pro quo. Meanwhile, Clidamant indiscreetly tells a friend about his impending rendezvous, and the friend convinces Clidamant to let him share the adventure and split the cost. Dice are rolled to determine the order, and the friend enters the dark cavern first, unknowingly embracing Clidamant's own wife in the pitch-black gloom. The husband follows immediately after, leaving the lady surprised by his sudden ardor. As everyone reconvenes upstairs, the master of the house chooses to keep the tangled secret to himself, while the characters navigate the amusing aftermath of mistaken identity.

How It Unfolds

• A husband's confession — Damon breaks a year of marital bliss by revealing a secret child from his past, prompting Aminta to match his honesty with her own hidden romance.
• The public spectacle — Both husbands react to their wives' revelations by strapping packs and girths to their bodies and rushing into the streets to broadcast their marital distress to amused crowds.
• The wise mother's counsel — Aminta's mother scolds her daughter for lacking the basic discretion to keep past affairs hidden, revealing her own pre-marital secrets as proof.
• The tutor's disguise — A charming young preceptor hired for the household brother uses his position to win the daughter's heart, leading to a hasty, concealed pregnancy.
• The specific remedy — Faced with an outraged new husband demanding a divorce, the father-in-law produces a formal financial contract designed specifically to neutralize domestic scandals.
• The cavern setup — Clidamant attempts to bribe the maid Alice for a secret tryst, prompting the mistress and maid to orchestrate a clever substitution in the dark.
• The divided prize — An indiscreet Clidamant invites a friend to share the expense and the cavern encounter, leading to a game of dice that sends the friend into the dark first.
• The final reckoning — The husband and his friend take turns in the pitch-black cave with the disguised wife, concluding with silent bewilderment and shared domestic acceptance.

The People

• Damon is a young husband whose impulsive need for total honesty shatters his peaceful marriage. He reacts to his wife's confession with childish theatricality, strapping a saddle to his back to parade his grievance through town.
• Aminta is a beautiful, serene young woman whose innocent candor matches her husband's. When prompted with his past, she confesses her own secret without calculation, sparking the central comedic chaos.
• The Mother is an aging realist who views honesty in marriage as a tactical error. Having hidden three pre-marital children from her own husband, she lectures her daughter on the art of keeping secrets behind locked doors.
• The Tutor is a clever, arts-educated youth who infiltrates a wealthy household under the guise of teaching the brother, successfully winning the affections of the sister before fleeing an angry father.
• The Second Husband is a wealthy, easily managed suitor who marries the pregnant daughter for her dowry. When a baby arrives four months too early, he is quickly placated by a financial bond.
• Clidamant is a restless Marseilles husband prone to novelty and indiscretion. Eager to pay for romance with his wife's maid, his loose lips lead to a shared cavern adventure with his friend.
• Alice is the quick-witted maid whose striking resemblance to her mistress allows her to help orchestrate a flawless quid pro quo that humbles the men.

In Its Own Voice

FAMED Paris ne'er within its walls had got, Such magick charms as were Aminta's lot, Youth, beauty, temper, fortune, she possessed, And all that should a husband render blessed,

This opening description introduces the fortunate circumstances and charms of Aminta before her marriage is tested by confession.

A certain Citizen, with fortune large, When settled with a handsome wife in charge, Not long attended for the marriage fruit: The lady soon put matters 'yond dispute;

This narrative transition establishes the comfortable domestic setup and prompt arrival of children in the second tale.

Dame Fortune often loves a laugh to raise, And, playing off her tricks and roguish ways, Instead of giving us what we desire, Mere quid pro quo permits us to acquire.

This philosophical reflection opens the final tale, setting a tone of amused resignation toward life's accidental swaps and ironies.

What It's Really About

These narratives explore the perpetual friction between social convention and human impulse, arguing that absolute transparency in marriage is often more destructive than graceful deception. La Fontaine examines how pride, jealousy, and the thirst for novelty drive people into absurd predicaments. Rather than moralizing against human frailty, the text suggests that society survives not through rigid perfection, but through compromise, financial pragmatism, and the willingness to laugh at one's own misfortunes. The underlying question asks whether an agreeable illusion is invariably better than a bitter, disruptive truth.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate sharp wit, classical French verse translation, and playful psychological satire will find a great deal to enjoy here. Reading these tales feels like listening to an urbane, cynical uncle recount local scandals over wine, balancing sharp worldly wisdom with sparkling comedic timing. Modern readers should be prepared for period attitudes regarding gender, marriage, and moral transgression that reflect the seventeenth-century worldview of their author. Yet beneath the archaic language and leisurely pacing lies a remarkably modern exploration of hypocrisy and human folly. The vivid theatricality of characters strapping saddles to their backs and stumbling through dark caves stays with long after closing the book. What do you find most compelling about how classic verse satire handles timeless domestic disputes?