The Complete Tales in Verse
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Generations of children have been brought up on La Fontaine's Fables. Only an absent-minded or perversely liberal parent, however, would leave the sane author's Complete Tales in Verse lying around for the children to find. La Fontaine's Complete Tales in Verse are the fruit of his wicked delight in Boccaccio, Ariosto, Rabelais, and other writers. Retelling their stories in his own words, La Fontaine comments wryly as he goes along, making the resulting tales very much his own. Marital misdemeanors, resourceful females, and foolish husbands are the stuff of La Fontaine's saucy variations on the human comedy. The Tales in Verse brought La Fontaine cesnure, yet they were an underground success. Guido Waldman's Englush translation, the first since the nineteenth century, demonstrates why La Fontaine deserves a place among France's comic genuises.
Translator's NoteAuthor's PrefacesJoconde1Richard Minutolo15Cuckolded, Thrashed, Delighted21The Husband who Played Confessor26The Cobbler28The Two Friends30The Glutton31Sister Jeanne32The Judge from Mesle33The Peasant who had Offended his Master34The Ear-maker and the Mould-mender37The Catalan Friars43The Cradle49The Muleteer55The Prayer to Saint Julian59The Maidservant Acquitted68Three Wives and their Bet72The Old Crocks' Calendar82A Lover Outwits a Mercenary Mistress88One Never Thinks of Everything90The Villager in Search of his Calf92Hans Carvel's Ring93A Gascon Braggart Punished95The King of Africa's Betrothed98The Hermit119Masetto of Lamporecchio125Brother Philip's Geese131The Mandrake136The Men of Rheims144The Enchanted Cup150The Falcon164A Courtesan in Love172The Innocent180The Pack Saddle186An Exchange of Kisses187Alicia on her Sickbed188Portrait of Iris189Love Drenched190The Little Dog who Could Shake out Silver and Gems191How Girls Find their Wits205The Ailing Abbess208Dindenaut and Panurge211Fair Exchange ...213A Problem of Conscience218The Little Devil of Papifighia223Ferondo, or a Spell in Purgatory228The Head-dress235King Candaule and the Doctor of Law240The Devil in Hell250Old Man Peter and his Mare256Eel Pate261Spectacles265The Cask271The Impossible Task274Mr. Handsome276The Picture282The Cowbell289The River Scamander291The Unwitting Confidante, or the Stratagem295The Remedy301Indiscreet Avowals305The Matron of Ephesus309Belphegor315The Contract325Mistaken Identities329
