Fables by Jean de la Fontaine

Who hasn’t had to study the moralizing verses by La Fontaine as a child? His fables, mainly starring animals, are famous worldwide. They can still be found in all kinds of shapes. The Chessmen Museum’s fable chess game is one of them.

In the middle of the museum an impressive chess game is on display. The pieces on the matching board represent the animal characters of a number of La Fontaine’s fables. Who was responsible for the creation of these tales starring animals?

Inspired by nature
The renowned fables were published in the seventeenth century and were an instant success. Their writer, Jean de la Fontaine, didn’t have an easy life though. Trouble started in his youth. He was born on the eight of July 1621, in the French town of Chateau-Thierry. His father was a supervisor in the fishing and hunting branch and his mother was the daughter of a bailiff. She died shortly after Jean’s younger brother Claude was born. Jean therefore was raised by his father and he inherited his father’s love of nature and poetry. Nature would be a recurring theme in Jeans work. The young boy came from a respectable family and he received a good education. He studied Law in Paris but he preferred to read the classics or write poetry.

An unhappy marriage
To please his father, Jean married the beautiful and rich officer’s daughter Marie Héricart in 1647. They did not get along at all, but nevertheless they had a son after five years of marriage. Jean would run off to Paris every chance he got and hardly ever saw his son. He would process the sad experiences he went through during his marriage in his fables. He met a lot of important and influential people in the French capital, who were impressed by his writings.

After publishing some early writings, Jean published the first part of his fables when he was 47 years old. The stories were mainly based on the fables by Greek writer Aisopos, from the sixth century B.C. Fables from the Ancient Times were very popular in the seventeenth century. They were often referred to and taught at schools because of their moralizing character. La Fontaine’s version was soon renowned for its refreshing writing style and choice of words. Shortly after the first book Jean wrote a second part. Despite his fame he didn’t have much money. After divorcing his wife, who took all her money with her, Jean came to depend on the kindness of others. He would spend the rest of his life living with, and be kept by rich, mostly female, admirers. After a short sickbed he died in 1695. His fables would be his biggest legacy.

Fables reach the Netherlands
The first complete translation of the fables was published in the Netherlands in 1871. This translation included the fables that were not very appropriate for a child’s innocent soul: stories about adultery, bad marriages or greedy clergymen. Other fables did make their way into the schools because of their ethical lessons. These fables are still famous today, like the tale of the hare and the tortoise that held a running competition. The arrogant hare was so convinced of his victory that he thought he could afford to take a nap halfway through the race. While he was sleeping the tortoise caught up with him and won the race.

This type of story is popular thanks to the recognizable character traits of the animals. Arrogance, greed, jealousy, laziness, ambition, stinginess: they are all known to the animals and so they are known to reader as well. Therefore, the life lessons are still relevant.

By Marjolein Overmeer