I am having connection problems with WordPress. The difficulty seems to be a poor connection to Google. That problem will be resolved, but, for the time being, I get logged out and cannot put likes to the posts I read.
As you know, I am also writing a book on Molière which is a relatively easy but time-consuming and expensive endeavour. The books, if they are available, often cost a fortune. Moreover, given health limitations, I should hire an assistant, a person who would borrow books for me and return them to the university. He or she would work no more than three or four hours every second week. I also need photocopies of certain articles.
An any rate, I’m still here, but technologies are playing tricks on me. It will be resolved.
The Fox and the Crane, by Walter Crane (1845–1915)
Photo credit: Gutenberg [eBook #25433]), p. 19
Perry Index 426
Aarne-Thompson Classification Systems 60 (now ATU [Uther])
You have heard how Sir Fox treated Crane:
With soup in a plate. When again
They dined, a long bottle
Just suited Crane’s throttle:
And Sir Fox licked the outside in vain.
THERE ARE GAMES THAT TWO CAN PLAY ATCover Page: Baby’s Own Æsop
Photo credit: Gutenberg [eBook #25433]
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
Walter Crane: a Limerick
We are still in the “‘Golden Age’ of British illustration”[i] (see Arthur Rackham, Wikipedia). Walter Crane (1845–1915) created illustrations for Baby’s Own Æsop (1887), Æsop‘s Fables adapted for children. The above illustrations are examples of Art Nouveau (curves…). Famed engraver W. J. Linton (7 December 1812 – 29 December 1897) provided Walter Crane with the limericks, which does not mean he is their author. To the best of my knowledge, the limericks are anonymous. In Æsop and Jean de La Fontaine, the crane is a stork. Consequently, these are functions.
As for the text, it is a limerick version of the Æsopic fable “The Fox and the Stork” and Jean de La Fontaine’s retelling. Limericks are five-line poems and, typically, nonsensical, which is not the case with “The Fox and Crane.” The fable has simply been adapted for children. Limericks can be learned easily and then recited. Their rhyme scheme is AABBA and their meter, the tri-syllabic anapest: two short and a long. Interestingly, the shortened text is inserted in the illustration, suggesting the growing importance of illustrations. Therefore, the limericks have a dual purpose. They suit children and allow for large illustrations.
“The Fox and the Stork,” by Æsop
In Æsop’s fable, the crane (la grue) is a stork (la cigogne) and the limerick, a genuine fable. It is number 426 in the Perry Index and type 60 and AT type 60. The following is V. S. Vernon Jones’ translation of Æsop’s “The Fox and Stork.” [eBook #11339]
A Fox invited a Stork to dinner, at which the only fare provided was a large flat dish of soup. The Fox lapped it up with great relish, but the Stork with her long bill tried in vain to partake of the savoury broth. Her evident distress caused the sly Fox much amusement. But not long after the Stork invited him in turn, and set before him a pitcher with a long and narrow neck, into which she could get her bill with ease. Thus, while she enjoyed her dinner, the Fox sat by hungry and helpless, for it was impossible for him to reach the tempting contents of the vessel.
« Le Renard et la Cigogne » (1.I.18)
“The Fox and the Stork” (1.I.18)
Old Mister Fox was at expense, one day,
To dine old Mistress Stork.
The fare was light, was nothing, sooth to say,
Requiring knife and fork.
That sly old gentleman, the dinner-giver,
Was, you must understand, a frugal liver.
This once, at least, the total matter
Was thinnish soup served on a platter,
For madam’s slender beak a fruitless puzzle,
Till all had passed the fox’s lapping muzzle.
But, little relishing his laughter,
Old gossip Stork, some few days after,
Returned his Foxship’s invitation.
Without a moment’s hesitation,
He said he’d go, for he must own he
Never stood with friends for ceremony.
And so, precisely at the hour,
He hied him to the lady’s bower;
Where, praising her politeness,
He finds her dinner right nice.
Its punctuality and plenty,
Its viands, cut in mouthfuls dainty,
Its fragrant smell, were powerful to excite,
Had there been need, his foxish appetite.
But now the dame, to torture him,
Such wit was in her,
Served up her dinner
In vases made so tall and slim,
They let their owner’s beak pass in and out,
But not, by any means, the fox’s snout!
All arts without avail,
With drooping head and tail,
As ought a fox a fowl had cheated,
The hungry guest at last retreated.
You knaves, for you is this recital,
You’ll often meet Dame Stork’s requital.
Jean de La Fontaine
(Photo credit: La Fontaine, Site Officiel)
(Photo credit: La Fontaine, Site Officiel)
The Deceiver Deceived or “le trompeur trompé ”
The structure of this fable is that of the “deceiver deceived” or “trompeur trompé.” The fox, as host, serves the crane (la grue) her meal in a flat plate. So the crane, as hostess, serves the fox (le renard) his meal in an urn. Molière used this structure in shorter plays (one to three acts) known as farces, as opposed to grandes comédies (five acts). These shorter plays resemble French medieval farces and facéties as well as comedies belonging to the Italian commedia dell’arte, an improvised comic form where the characters were stock-characters or archetypes, i.e. they always played the same role in plays following the same formula, or plot, as in “Harlequin” Romances.
In short, “The Fox and the Crane” is a farce; a trick played on one character is played on the trickster. It is as though “The Fox and the Stork” were reversed into “The Stork and the Fox,” a mirror image æsthetics.
The Moral of “The Fox and the Stork”
At its simplest level, the moral of this fable is that what harm we do others can be done to us. The trickster may expect retaliation (lex talionis),[i]but not of a military nature. So this fable is a cautionary tale. The stork having been fooled by the fox, the fox can expect anything, and it is fooled the stork.
Yet, what this fable has to teach is an all-encompassing rule. It is the “do not do unto others what you do not wish others to do unto you.” According to Wikipedia,
“[t]he moral drawn is that the trickster must expect trickery in return and that the golden rule of conduct is for one to do to others what one would wish for oneself.”
Wikipedia emphasizes the universality of this rule (see Golden Rule). Let’s scroll down to the Sanskrit tradition.
“In Mahābhārata, the ancient epic of India, comes a discourse where the wise minister Vidura advises the King Yuddhiśhṭhira thus, ‘Listening to wise scriptures, austerity, sacrifice, respectful faith, social welfare, forgiveness, purity of intent, compassion, truth and self-control – are the ten wealth of character (self). O King aim for these, may you be steadfast in these qualities. These are the basis of prosperity and rightful living. These are highest attainable things. All worlds are balanced on dharma, dharma encompasses ways to prosperity as well. O King, dharma is the best quality to have, wealth the medium and desire (kāma) the lowest. Hence, (keeping these in mind), by self-control and by making dharma (right conduct) your main focus, treat others as you treat yourself.’”
—ooo—
“In the best of all possible worlds” (Candide [Leibniz], Voltaire), would the stork or crane have tricked the trickster?
The Golden Age of posters was France’s Belle Époque (1871-1914) and fin de siècle (turn of the century). Picasso’s posters are seldom discussed, but posters created by Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha and Steinlen have remained popular, and only the very wealthy can purchase a poster, or other artwork, by Toulouse-Lautrec. As a genre, posters were influenced by Japonisme, hence the timing of this post.
Biographical notes: a Crippling Illness
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901; aged 36) was born to a distinguished aristocratic family, in the château du Bosc near Albi. However, he developed a disproportionate body after breaking one thigh bone, the right, at the age of 13, and a second thigh bone, the left, the following year. These misfortunes triggered a disease, possibly pycnodysostosis, that caused the broken bones not to heal properly and stopped the growth of Toulouse-Lautrec’s legs. When he reached adulthood, he was 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in) tall, but his legs measured only 0.70 m (27.5 in). It was an affliction he resented.
However, Toulouse-Lautrec, a printmaker, a draughtsman and illustrator, loved his art (Post-Impressionism and Art Nouveau) and left for posterity masterfully composed posters, one of his great strengths as an artist. Some of his posters featured the highly paid can-can dancers of his time: “La Goulue” (1866–1929) and Jane Avril (1868–1943). When the Moulin Rouge (literally: the red mill) opened,[i] on 6 October 1889, Lautrec was asked to create several posters, all of which helped make the Moulin Rouge famous. Eventually, the posters that earned him his very own table at the Moulin Rouge, made their creator as famous as the Moulin Rouge.
Influences: Japonisme, Manet and Degas
Toulouse-Lautrec’s artwork shows “flat areas of strong colours” (see Japonism, Wikipedia), as do Japanese prints, except that Toulouse-Lautrec used very strong colours. As for masterful composition, it was also a characteristic of Japonisme, as was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s linear style. Posters were an ideal art form because they were drawn and coloured quickly, which lent spontaneity to the genre. Other than Japonism, Toulouse-Lautrec’s art was influenced by Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) and Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917).
As for can-can (cancanner means to quack) as a dance, it developed in 1830, but was originally a quadrille, a dance performed by two couples, two female and two male dancers, who formed a rectangle. By 1889, however, it was danced by one female dancer and called chahut (noisy uproar). It then evolved into a chorus line of female dancers who performed synchronized high kicks, split jumps (le grand écart), an element of dance, gymnastics and figure-skating that has always fascinated the public. Can-can dancers also “stirred” an uplifted leg, a movement called the rond de jambe (tracing a circle with a leg), and executed “port d’armes” (carrying weapons) “turning on one leg, while grasping the other leg by the ankle” (seeCan-can, Wikipedia).
Occasionally, dancer(s) turned their back to the public, bent down, lifted their skirts and petticoats, and showed their drawers. This amused spectators and was an erotic movement. “La Goulue” (literally: the glutton) was fond of this little routine. The bottom of her drawers showed a heart, to everyone’s delight. Can-can dancers wore black stockings, an element of their accoutrements Toulouse-Lautrec used, very successfully, as a compositional device.
As Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) wrote, “[l]e dernier acte est sanglant, quelque belle que soit la comédie en tout le reste.” (The final act is bloody, however beautiful the entire rest of the comedy.) In Lautrec’s case, most acts were bloody. He became an alcoholic and often shared the lodgings of prostitutes, lesbian prostitutes in particular, and caught syphilis. Just before his death, he spent some time in a sanatorium. He was buried at Verdelais, a few kilometers from Malromé, the family estate.
Toulouse-Lautrec died at the early age of thirty-six, in Malromé, having created “737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works.” (See Toulouse-Lautrec, Wikipedia). Some of his paintings, portraits of Carmen Gaudin mainly, his model for The Laundress (1888), were executed in the garden of Monsieur Forest, le père Forest, in Montmartre. This was Toulouse-Lautrec’s plein-air period.
German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach‘s (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers), features a musical piece entitled Galop infernal,[ii]associated with can-can. Offenbach, a native of Cologne, was a cello virtuoso.
______________________________ [i] The Moulin Rouge wasco-founded in 1889 by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller.[ii] The dance was first designated as“galop” (fast running horses), but when the Moulin Rouge opened, it was called “le chahut” (noisy and boisterous).
