France has created a new Website for:

The French-language site is La Fontaine.
The English-language site is La Fontaine.

• http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/fables.htm  La Fontaine FR
• http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/fablanglais.htm La Fontaine EN

The fables listed below are not necessarily an analysis of a fable by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 – 1695). Some are used to speak about current events.

I usually list or quote the Æsopic equivalent of a fable by La Fontaine. If so, I use the Perry Index classification, a number, of the corresponding Æsopic fable. There are many versions of Æsopic fables as they have been rewritten by several authors. Marie de France (12th century [Anglo-Norman]), Walter of England (12th century [Anglo-Norman]), and Jean de La Fontaine (17th century [French]) wrote Æsopic fables, but Jean de La Fontaine made Æsop’s fables La Fontaine’s Fables. If you are looking for versions of a fable, your best guide is Laura Gibbs’ Bestiaria Latina (mythfoklore.net/aesopica).

I have written posts on several fables and explained elements such as how mythological animals differ from mythical animals and have named the genres in which animals are featured. (See Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism.)

A

B

• The Bear and the Gardener, “L’Ours et l’amateur des jardins” (VIII.10)

C

• The Cat’s Only Trick, “Le Chat et le Renard” (IX.14) (The Cat and the Fox) (10 May 2013)
• The Cat Metamorphosed into a Woman  (The Cat Memorphosed into a Woman), by Jean de La Fontaine, “), by Jean de La Fontaine, “La Chatte métamorphosée en femme” (II.18) (20 July 2013)
• “Le Chêne et le Roseau” (The Oak and the Reed):  the Moral (I.22) (28 September 2013)
• “The Cock and the Pearl,” La Fontaine cont’d (I.20), “Le Coq et la Perle” (I.20) (10 October 2013)

D

F

• La Fontaine’s “The Fox and the Grapes,” “Le Renard et les Raisins” (III.11) (23 September 2013)
• The Fox & Crane, or Stork, “Le Renard et la Cigogne” (I.18) (30 May 2013)
• The Fox & Goat, or the Unforeseeable, “Le Renard et le Bouc” (III.5) (1 October 2011)
• “The Frogs Who Desired a King,” a Fable for our Times, “Les Grenouilles qui demandent un roi,” (III, 4) (12 November 2016)
• The Frogs Who Desired a King (III.4) (18 August 2011)

G

H

• The Hen with the Golden Eggs, “La Poule aux œufs d’or” (1.V. 13) (1 June 2013)
• “…the humble pay the cost” (II.4), “Les Deux Taureaux et une Grenouille,” The Two Bulls and the Frog (II.4) (29 September 2015)

M      

• The Man and the Snake, “L’Homme et la Couleuvre” (X.1) (9 November 2011)
• The Miller, his Son, and the Donkey: quite a Tale, “Le Meunier, son fils et l’âne” (III.1) (16 May 2013)
• A Motif: Getting Stuck in a Hole, “La Belette entrée dans un grenier, (III.17) (16 April 2013)
• Another Motif: The Tail-Fisher, “Le Renard ayant la queue coupée” (V.5) (20 April 2013)
• The Mouse Metamorphosed into a Maid, by Jean de La Fontaine, “La Souris métamorphosée en fille” (II.18) (30 July 2013)

N

• The North Wind and the Sun, “Phébus et Borée” (VI.3) (16 April 2013)
  

O

• The Oak Tree and the Reed ,“Le Chêne et le Roseau,” (I.22) (28 September 2013)
• “Le Chêne et le Roseau” (The Oak and the Reed):  the Moral (I.22) (28 September 2013)

P

T

• Fables and Parables: the Ineffable, The Two Doves, “Les Deux Pigeons” (12 June 2018)
• The Two Doves, “Les Deux Pigeons” (IX.2) (24 May 2018)
• The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, “Le Rat de ville et le Rat des champs”  (I.9) (18 August 2013)
• The Two Rats, the Fox and Egg: The Soul of Animals, “Les Deux Rats, le Renard, et l’Œuf” (IX. last fable) (15 May 2013)

Y

• You can’t please everyone: Æsop retold, “Le Meunier, son fils, et l’âne” (X.1) (21 March 2012)

Theory

• La Fontaine’s Fables Compiled & Walter Crane (25 September 2013)
• Fables and Parables: the Ineffable (The Two Doves, Les Deux Pigeons) (12 June 2018)
• Fables: varia (12 March 2017)
  
• Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism (6 March 2017)
• “To Inform or Delight” (29 March 2013)

Texts and Classification

Musée Jean de La Fontaine, Site officiel (toutes les fables FR/EN)
Perry Index (classification of Æsop’s Fables)
La Fontaine & Æsop: Internet Resources
Aarne-Thompson-Uther (classification of folk tales)

Translation of La Fontaine’s Fables

Translated by Walter Thornbury and illustrated by Gustave Doré (complete) Gutenberg’s [EBook #50316]