Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine

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Title: The Tales and Novels, Complete
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Release Date: October 29, 2006 [EBook #5300]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALES
AND NOVELS, COMPLETE ***
Produced by David Widger
THE TALES AND NOVELS
O F
J. DE LA FONTAINE
TABLE:
LA FONTAINE'S LIFE
PREFACE
Joconde
The Cudgelled
and Contented Cuckold
The Husband Confessor
The Cobbler
The
Peasant and His Angry Lord
The Muleteer
The Servant Girl
Justified
The Three Gossips' Wager
The Old Man's Calendar
The
Avaricious Wife and Tricking Gallant
The Jealous Husband
The
Gascon Punished
The Princess Betrothed to the King of Garba
The
Magick Cup
The Falcon
The Little Dog
The Eel Pie
The
Magnificent
The Ephesian Matron
Belphegor
The Little Bell


The Glutton
The Two Friends
The Country Justice
Alice Sick

The Kiss Returned
Sister Jane
An Imitation of Anacreon
Another
Imitation of Anacreon
PREFACE (To The Second Book)
Friar
Philip's Geese
Richard Minutolo
The Monks of Catalonia
The
Cradle
St. Julian's Prayer
The Countryman Who Sought His Calf

Hans Carvel's Ring
The Hermit
The Convent Gardener of
Lamporechio
The Mandrake
The Rhemese
The Amorous
Courtesan
Nicaise
The Progress of Wit
The Sick Abbess
The
Truckers
The Case of Conscience
The Devil of Pope-fig Island

Feronde
The Psalter
King Candaules and the Doctor of Laws
The
Devil in Hell
Neighbour Peter's Mare
The Spectacles
The
Bucking Tub
The Impossible Thing
The Picture
The Pack-Saddle

The Ear-maker, and the Mould-mender
The River Scamander

The Confidant Without Knowing It, or the
Stratagem
The Clyster

The Indiscreet Confession
The Contract
The Quid Pro Quo, or the
Mistakes
The Dress-maker

The Gascon
The Pitcher
To Promise
is One Thing, to Keep It, Another
The Nightingale
Epitaph of La
Fontaine
LIFE OF
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE
Jean de La Fontaine was born on the 8th of July, 1621, at

Chateau-Thierry, and his family held a respectable position there.
His education was neglected, but he had received that genius which
makes amends for all. While still young the tedium of society led him
into retirement, from which a taste for independence afterwards
withdrew him.
He had reached the age of twenty-two, when a few sounds from the
lyre of Malherbe, heard by accident, awoke in him the muse which
slept.
He soon became acquainted with the best models: Pheedrus, Virgil,
Horace and Terence amongst the Latins; Plutarch, Homer and Plato,
amongst the Greeks; Rabelais, Marot and d'Urfe, amongst the French;

Tasso, Ariosto and Boccaccio, amongst the Italians.
He married, in compliance with the wishes of his family, a beautiful,
witty and chaste woman, who drove him to despair.
He was sought after and cherished by all distinguished men of letters.
But it was two Ladies who kept him from experiencing the pangs of
poverty.
La Fontaine, if there remain anything of thee, and if it be permitted to
thee for a moment to soar above all time; see the names of La Sabliere
and of Hervard pass with thine to the ages to come!
The life of La Fontaine was, so to speak, only one of continual
distraction. In the midst of society, he was absent from it. Regarded
almost as an imbecile by the crowd, this clever author, this amiable
man, only permitted himself to be seen at intervals and by friends.
He had few books and few friends.
Amongst a large number of works that he has left, everyone knows his
fables and his tales, and the circumstances of his life are written in a
hundred places.
He died on the 16th of March, 1695.
Let us keep silence about his last moments, for fear of irritating those
who never forgive.
His fellow-citizens honour him in his posterity to this day.
Long after his death, foreigners went to visit the room which he had
occupied.
Once a year, I shall go to visit his tomb.
On that day,