Books with title The Fables of La Fontaine

Unashamedly borrowing his inspiration and material from Aesop’s fables, Jean de La Fontaine wrote his stories in French verse during the late seventeenth century. His fables have been popular with children and adults alike ever since. These are timeless stories of country folk, heroes of Greek mythology, and familiar creatures. Each tale contains a moral for living, as relevant today as they were 300 years ago.This large-format (8 ½ x 11 ¼ inches) volume gathers more than a hundred of La Fontaine’s most beloved fables for children. Jean-Noël Rochut has illustrated his magical fables in color, while C.J. Moore has faithfully translated them into flowing English verse to delight the ears of both young and old.This classic family favorite is fully illustrated in color throughout. The fables in this collection include favorites such as The "Grasshopper and the Ant," "The Crow and the Fox," and The "Wolf and the Lamb."

**Translation realigned with original, 2014**Jean de La Fontaine was one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. Born in Château-Thierry in 1621, his literary career did not truly begin until he was in his thirties and spending most of his time in the French capital, Paris. Among La Fontaine’s most famous works are his collections of fables, issued in several volumes between 1668 and 1694. The earliest of these books, from which the current collection was drawn, were mostly adapted from the works of Aesop, Babrius, and Phaedrus. La Fontaine initially wrote his rhyming fables for a sophisticated audience, but the poems were regarded as an excellent source of moral education for children and were used by educators and parents alike to instill proper values in their charges.La Fontaine died in Paris in 1695 at the age of 73. His remains now reside in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.This bilingual edition of some of La Fontaine’s fables is designed to assist those learning French. The original French text appears on the right-hand pages of the book, with the corresponding English translation on the left-hand pages.Other bilingual books available from Sleeping Cat Books:The Picture of Dorian GraySelected Works of Edgar Allan PoeCandideShakespeare's SonnetsNew Fairy Tales for Small ChildrenThe Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged)The Tales of Mother GooseThe Last of the MohicansMadame Bovary

Second only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine’s fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death.

Second only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine’s fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death.

The fables which are included in this collection are not merely moral, but are, to a certain extent, an encyclopædia of the qualities and characteristics of animals, and, consequently, of our own; since we men are, in fact, but a summary of all that is good and bad in the lower ranks of creatures. When Prometheus determined upon creating man, he took the dominant characteristic of each beast, and of these various characteristics composed the human species. It follows, therefore, that in these fables, in which beasts play so great a part, we may each of us find some feature which we may recognise as our own. The old may find in them a confirmation of their experiences, and the young may learn from them that which they ought to know. As the latter are but strangers in the world, they are as yet unacquainted with its inhabitants; they are even unacquainted with themselves. They ought not to be left in this ignorance, but should be instructed as to the qualities of the lion, the fox, and so forth, and as to the why and the wherefore a man is sometimes compared to the said lion and fox. To effect this instruction is the object of these fables.

Second only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine’s fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death.

Jean de La Fontaine was one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. Born in Château-Thierry in 1621, his literary career did not truly begin until he was in his thirties and spending most of his time in the French capital, Paris. Among La Fontaine's most famous works are his collections of fables, issued in several volumes between 1668 and 1694. The earliest of these books, from which the current collection was drawn, were mostly adapted from the works of Aesop, Babrius, and Phaedrus. La Fontaine initially wrote his rhyming fables for a sophisticated audience, but the poems were regarded as an excellent source of moral education for children and were used by educators and parents alike to instill proper values in their charges. La Fontaine died in Paris in 1695 at the age of 73. His remains now reside in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. This bilingual edition of some of La Fontaine's fables is designed to assist those learning French. The original French text appears on the right-hand pages of the book, with the corresponding English translation on the left-hand pages.

Second only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine’s fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death.

THE FABLES OF LA FONTAINE.TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY WALTER THORNBURY,WITH ILLUSTRATIONSBYGUSTAVE DORÉ.CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN,LONDON AND NEW YORK.1886Divided into 12 books, there are 239 of the Fables, varying in length from a few lines to some hundred, those written later being as a rule longer than the earlier.The first collection of Fables Choisies had appeared March 31, 1668, dividing 124 fables into six books over its two volumes. They were dedicated to "Monseigneur" Louis, le Grand Dauphin, the six-year-old son of Louis XIV of France and his queen consort Maria Theresa of Spain. By this time, La Fontaine was 47 and known to readers chiefly as the author of Contes, lively stories in verse, grazing and sometimes transgressing the bounds of contemporary moral standards. The Fables, in contrast, were completely in compliance with these standards.Eight new fables published in 1671 would eventually take their place in books 7–9 of the second collection. Books 7 and 8 appeared in 1678, while 9-11 appeared in 1679, the whole 87 fables being dedicated to the king's mistress, Madame de Montespan. Between 1682 and 1685 a few fables were published dealing with people in antiquity, such as "The Matron of Ephesus" and "Philemon and Baucis". Then book 12 appeared as a separate volume in 1694, containing 29 fables dedicated to the king's 12-year-old grandchild, Louis, Duke of Burgundy.

Elizur WrightSecond only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine’s fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death.