Les plus belles fables de La Fontaine

Abstract

Here is a second extra copy of this book. This booklet has an unusual format, since it is 11½" across and about 8" high. Each of twenty fables has a two page spread combining four elements: a monochrome strip of designs including things like weather-vanes and geometric figures; a title; La Fontaine's text; and a very strong, dramatic multi-colored illustration of the fable. This last element frequently includes, humorously exaggerated, the key point in La Fontaine's fable. Thus the fox in FC plays a banjo; the frog in OF is attached to the kind of hand-pump one would use for a bicycle tire; the dog in DW offers a golden collar on a pillow as though it were a crown; the wolf in WL has knife and fork in hand; the crane in FS has a crumpled beak; the ass in "L'Âne et le petit Chien" is bringing a bouquet of roses, and the dog is biting his tail. The ant in GA, repeated on the cover, is a shapely woman in an ermine cape. Now that is an understanding of this fable that I had never considered! Does it not undercut the story in LM to have the lion in a metal cage and to allow the mouse to hold the key? There is a T of C at the front. The booklet has the look of a holiday gift, and a line on the bottom of the rear cover states "Le Crédit Mutuel vous offre les plus belles Fables de La Fontaine." This booklet was worth waiting for!