Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine | Page 2

I shall tear up a fable of La Mothe, a tale of Vergier, or
several of the best pages of Grecourt.

He was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Joseph, by the side of Moliere.
That spot will always be held sacred by poets and people of taste.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
TO THE FIRST VOLUME OF THESE TALES
I had resolved not to consent to the printing of these Tales, until after I
had joined to them those of Boccaccio, which are those most to my
taste; but several persons have advised me to produce at once what I
have remaining of these trifles, in order to prevent from cooling the
curiosity to see them, which is still in its first ardour. I gave way to this
advice without much difficulty, and I have thought well to profit by the
occasion. Not only is that permitted me, but it would be vanity on my
part to despise such an advantage. It has sufficed me to wish that no
one should be imposed upon in my favour, and to follow a road
contrary to that of certain persons, who only make friends in order to
gain voices in their favour by their means; creatures of the Cabal, very
different from that Spaniard who prided himself on being the son of his
own works. Although I may still be as much in want of these artifices
as any other person, I cannot bring myself to resolve to employ them;
however I shall accommodate myself if possible to the taste of the
times, instructed as I am by my own experience, that there is nothing
which is more necessary. Indeed one cannot say that all seasons are
suitable for all classes of books. We have seen the Roundelays, the
Metamorphoses, the Crambos, reign one after another. At present, these
gallantries are out of date and nobody cares about them: so certain is it
that what pleases at one time may not please at another! It only belongs
to works of truly solid merit and sovereign beauty, to be well received
by all minds and in all ages, without possessing any other passport than
the sole merit with which they are filled. As mine are so far distant
from such a high degree of perfection, prudence advises that I should
keep them in my cabinet unless I choose well my own time for
producing them. This is what I have done, or what I have tried to do in
this edition, in which I have only added new Tales, because it seemed
to me that people were prepared to take pleasure in them. There are
some which I have extended, and others which I have abridged, only

for the sake of diversifying them and making them less tedious. But I
am occupying myself over matters about which perhaps people will
take no notice, whilst I have reason to apprehend much more important
objections. There are only two principal ones which can be made
against me; the one that this book is licentious; the other that it does not
sufficiently spare the fair sex. With regard to the first, I say boldly that
the nature of what is understood as a tale decided that it should be so, it
being an indispensable law according to Horace, or rather according to
reason and common sense, that one must conform one's self to the
nature of the things about which one writes. Now, that I should be
permitted to write about these as so many others have done and with
success I do not believe it can be doubted; and people cannot condemn
me for so doing, without also condemning Ariosto before me and the
Ancients before Ariosto. It may be said that I should have done better
to have suppressed certain details, or at least to have disguised them.
Nothing was more easy, but it would have weakened the tale and taken
away some of its charm: So much circumspection is only necessary in
works which promise great discretion from the beginning, either by
their subject or by the manner in which they are treated. I confess that it
is necessary to keep within certain limits, and that the narrowest are the
best; also it must be allowed me that to be too scrupulous would spoil
all. He who would wish to reduce Boccaccio to the same modesty as
Virgil, would assuredly produce nothing worth having, and would sin
against the laws of propriety by setting himself the task to observe them.
For in order that one may not make a mistake in matters of verse and
prose, extreme modesty and propriety are two very different things.
Cicero makes the latter consist in saying what is appropriate one should
say, considering the place, the time, and the persons to