Ysopet
Ysopet ("Little Aesop") refers to a medieval collection of fables in French literature, specifically to versions of Aesop's Fables. Alternatively the term Isopet-Avionnet indicates that the fables are drawn from both Aesop and Avianus.
The fables of Marie de France
The origin of the term 'Ysopet' dates back to the twelfth century, where it was first used by Marie de France, whose collection of 102 fables, written in Anglo-Norman octosyllabic couplets, she claims to have translated from an original work by Alfred the Great. Since there is no evidence of any such Old English material, this has been disputed.[1]
The fables come from a variety of sources and feature not simply animals (and insects) but human beings as well. The first forty correspond to one of the Romulus collections of Aesop but even here there are variations. The story she calls "The Dog and the Cheese" differs from Classical versions of The Dog and its Reflection precisely in the detail that it is cheese rather than a bone or piece of meat that it is carrying. Many other stories make their first appearance in the Ysopet, particularly those featuring human beings. One at least, The Mouse Takes a Wife, only appears for the first time in the West but has earlier eastern analogues. Others still fit into well established categories of folk tale and suggest an oral transmission.
The morals
It is in drawing moral conclusions from the behaviour of the characters involved that Marie is at her most individual, reflecting the realities of 12th century feudal society at the same time as concern for the individual welfare of those within it. While she accepts its stratification, her criticism of those who abuse their position is sharp and her sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden is obvious. In particular she criticizes the inequalities of the legal system (The Wolf and the Lamb, The Dog and the Sheep), injudicious choice of deputy and betrayal of faith.
Marie's portrayal of women in particular is two-edged and not always consistent. In the tale of The Wife and her Husband, where a resourceful wife persuades the husband that he has not really seen her in bed with another man, Marie remarks that 'good sense and imagination are more valuable and useful to many people than their money or their family'. But in the similar situation of The Wife and Her Husband in the Forest she concludes that 'for this reason women are criticized for their deceptiveness: these lying tricksters have more art than the devil.' The humorous ending of the otherwise horrifying story of The Man and the Wife Who Quarreled, in which a husband cuts out the tongue of his wife only to have her continue their quarrel in sign language, draws from Marie the wry comment that 'This fable shows what one can often see: if a fool talks foolishness and someone else comes along and speaks sense to him, he won't believe it but gets angry instead. Even when he knows he is absolutely in the wrong, he wants to have the last say, and no one can make him shut up.' The change of gender at the end indicates that for Marie, as for Jean de la Fontaine five centuries later, 'Many men are women too' (Fables VI.6). Her main concern is not gender politics but, as throughout the Ysopet, the wise, foolish or vicious use of the tongue.
References
- ^ Martin, Mary Lou: The Fables of Marie de France: an English translation, Birmingham AL, 1979, pp.22-24
External links
The introduction and the first few fables in Mary Lou Martin's translation can be found in the limited preview on Google Books [1]
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Fables
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin
- The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
- The Bear and the Travelers
- The Belly and the Members
- The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
- The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cat and the Mice
- The Cock and the Jewel
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Crow and the Snake
- The Deer without a Heart
- The Dog and Its Reflection
- The Dog and the Wolf
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Farmer and the Stork
- The Farmer and the Viper
- The Fir and the Bramble
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish
- The Fowler and the Snake
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Fox and the Lion
- The Fox and the Mask
- The Fox and the Sick Lion
- The Fox and the Stork
- The Fox and the Weasel
- The Fox and the Woodman
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Goat and the Vine
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Honest Woodcutter
- The Horse and the Donkey
- The Horse that Lost its Liberty
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
- The Man with Two Mistresses
- The Mischievous Dog
- The Miser and his Gold
- The Moon and her Mother
- The Mountain in Labour
- The Mouse and the Oyster
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Old Man and Death
- The Old Woman and the Doctor
- The Rose and the Amaranth
- The Satyr and the Traveller
- The Sick Kite
- The Snake and the Crab
- The Snake in the Thorn Bush
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Town Mouse and Country Mouse
- The Travellers and the Plane Tree
- The Trees and the Bramble
- The Two Pots
- The Walnut Tree
- Washing the Ethiopian White
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- The Wolf and the Crane
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- The Woodcutter and the Trees
- The Young Man and the Swallow
- An ass eating thistles
- The Bear and the Gardener
- Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
- The Blind Man and the Lame
- The Boy and the Filberts
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- The Dog in the Manger
- The drowned woman and her husband
- The Elm and the Vine
- The Fox and the Cat
- The Gourd and the Palm-tree
- The Hawk and the Nightingale
- The miller, his son and the donkey
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Priest and the Wolf
- The Scorpion and the Frog
- The Shepherd and the Lion
adaptations
- Aesop's Film Fables
- The Grasshopper and the Ants
adaptations
- Demetrius of Phalerum
- Phaedrus
- Babrius
- Avianus
- Dositheus Magister
- Alexander Neckam
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Odo of Cheriton
- John Lydgate
- Kawanabe Kyōsai
- Laurentius Abstemius
- Roger L'Estrange
- Gabriele Faerno
- Hieronymus Osius
- Marie de France
- Robert Henryson
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ivan Krylov
- Nicolas Trigault
- Robert Thom
- Zhou Zuoren