CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| The Two Mules | [13] |
| The Hare and the Partridge | [15] |
| The Gardener and His Landlord | [17] |
| The Man and His Image | [20] |
| The Animals Sick of the Plague | [22] |
| The Unhappily Married Man | [25] |
| The Rat retired from the World | [27] |
| The Maiden | [29] |
| The Wishes | [31] |
| The Dairy-Woman and the Pail of Milk | [34] |
| The Priest and the Corpse | [36] |
| The Man Who ran after Fortune and the Man who waited for Her in His Bed | [38] |
| An Animal in the Moon | [42] |
| The Fortune-Tellers | [44] |
| The Cobbler and the Financier | [47] |
| The Power of Fable | [50] |
| The Dog Who carried His Master's Dinner | [52] |
| Thyrsis and Amaranth | [54] |
| The Rat and the Elephant | [56] |
| The Horoscope | [57] |
| Jupiter and the Thunderbolts | [60] |
| Education | [62] |
| Democritus and the People of Abdera | [64] |
| The Acorn and the Pumpkin | [67] |
| The Schoolboy, the Pedant, and the Owner of a Garden | [69] |
| The Sculptor and the Statue of Jupiter | [71] |
| The Oyster and the Pleaders | [73] |
| The Cat and the Fox | [75] |
| The Monkey and the Cat | [77] |
| The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg | [79] |
| The Dog with His Ears Cropped | [86] |
| The Lioness and the She-Bear | [88] |
| The Rabbits | [90] |
| The Gods wishing to Instruct a Son of Jupiter | [93] |
| The Lion, the Monkey, and the Two Asses | [95] |
| The Wolf and the Fox in the Well | [98] |
| The Mice and the Screech-Owl | [100] |
| The Companions of Ulysses | [102] |
| The Quarrel between the Dogs and the Cats and between the Cats and the Mice | [106] |
| The Wolf and the Fox | [109] |
| Love and Folly | [111] |
| The Forest and the Woodcutter | [113] |
| The Fox and the Young Turkeys | [115] |
| The Ape | [117] |
| The Scythian Philosopher | [118] |
| The Elephant and Jupiter's Ape | [120] |
| The League of Rats | [122] |
| The Arbiter, the Hospitaller, and the Hermit | [124] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| The Heart of Thyrsis leapt | [Frontispiece] | |
| "You boasted of being so Swift" | Facing page | [14] |
| Over toppled the Milk | " | [35] |
| The Garret was still a Sibyl's Den | " | [46] |
| Deliberately swallowed the Oyster | " | [74] |
| "Why cannot You be Silent also?" | " | [88] |
| Descended by His greater Weight | " | [98] |
| A Guide for the Footsteps of Love | " | [111] |
The poet Jean de la Fontaine was born at Château-Thierry on July 8, 1621. He was a kindly, merry, and generous man and much beloved.
His fables were written in verse and were published in three collections at different times of his life. Many were new versions of existing fables; but those of his later years were more often original inventions.
All in this book are of La Fontaine's own invention, although several have since appeared in collections of Æsop's fables without the acknowledgment that is La Fontaine's due.