Les Fables de La Fontaine

Abstract

Here each of twelve of La Fontaine's fables is given a two-page spread. Some have a single illustration spreading over the two pages. Others have a pair of illustrations. The cover shows various animals looking down onto the pages of a book spread on the floor before them. The endpapers show various animals scurrying about. Recognizable among them are the fox carrying a cheese, a grasshopper with a guitar, and a frog with an extended belly. In the illustrations, the characters are outlined with a heavy black line. The fables include FC, OF, GA, GGE, The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep, La Belette entrée dans un grénier, WL, Les deux Lapins (Thomas Iriarte); The Angler and the Little Fish, The Fox and the Goat, TMCM, and LM. The best picture in the group might be that of the weasel stuck in the hole of the granary that he earlier managed but now cannot. Second prize goes to The Angler and the Little Fish. The Iriarte fable is ingenious. A pursued rabbit argues with another rabbit about the particular species of the dogs that are approaching. While they argue, they are consumed!