Fables Européennes
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Authors
Durant, Alain
Madueño, Conchita
Issue Date
2003
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
The book was apparently published first in Spain in 2002 by Editorial LIBSA in Madrid. It is a 32-page booklet a little larger than 7½ x 10¼. Each pair of pages presents a single picture with generally a fable on each half of the double-picture. Many of the fables are new to me and delightful. Perhaps that is because many come from Spanish authors. Don Juan Manuel presents well, e.g., Aesop's story of the crying bird-hunter. Calderón de la Barca tells a story that is new to me. A wise man became so poor that he wondered, as he picked up herbs to eat, if there was anyone poorer than he. As he wondered, he looked behind to see a man picking up along the path the herbs he himself had rejected. Samaniego is represented, of course. Pettissen is new to me; he is represented here by Aesop's fable of the gander who is proud because he can swim, walk, and fly. A sparrow points out to the gander that he does none of these well. The Archpriest of Hita is represented by the Aesopic story of the donkey and the lapdog. Gay appears with The Swan and the Crow: the latter had better learn to live admiring the former's white plumage--and not trying to emulate or get it for himself. Heine is represented by The Eagle and the Nightingale on a whole two-page spread of its own: the nightingale cannot sing in the eagle's milieu. Modest talent does not fit grandeur; it sublimates and embellishes itself in humility. Ramón de Campoamor presents a Mexican standoff between a liberty-seeking nightingale in a cage and a hungry nightingale outside the cage. Prat de Lamartine has a story of three urns; its moral may be better than the fable, Nothing is great if it is not inhabited by the divine. Don Juan Manuel has The Emperor's New Clothes on a double-page. The twist to this telling is that the emperor's new clothes are invisible to illegitimate children. The only black man in the kingdom finally overturns this lie. Paul F. de Gudin has a fable about a proud bell; a cat points out that the bell would have none of its glory were it not for the hand that rings the bell. Jean-François Guichard has a good fable about a monkey who did a great trick, won great praise from his fellow-monkeys, and then could not repeat the trick. The worst thing you can do to a joker is to offer too prompt praise. Tirso de Molina is represented by The Pig and the Ass. Lessing, La Moliniere, Lorrin, Le Baylli, and Lulio are also represented.
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Publisher
EDDL
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Identifier
6143 (Access ID)