''Ysopet'' ("Little

Aesop Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...

") refers to a medieval collection of

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

s in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

, specifically to versions of

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a Slavery in ancient Greece, slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 Before the Common Era, BCE. Of varied and unclear origins, the stor ...

. Alternatively the term Isopet-Avionnet indicates that the fables are drawn from both Aesop and

Avianus Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) was a paganism, pagan writer of fables in Latin."Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vo ...

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 Marie de France (floruit, fl. 1160–1215) was a poet, likely born in France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of Kin ...

, whose collection of 102 fables, written in Anglo-Norman

octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie d ...

couplets, she claims to have translated from an original work by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

. Since there is no evidence of any such

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

material, this has been disputed.Martin, Mary Lou: ''The Fables of Marie de France: an English translation'', Birmingham AL, 1979, pp.22-24 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 Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

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 Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

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 Jean de La Fontaine (, ; ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French Fable, fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''La Fontaine's Fables, Fables'', which provided a model for subs ...

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

External links

The introduction and the first few fables in Mary Lou Martin's translation can be found in the limited preview on Google Book

{{Aesop Medieval French literature Works by Marie de France * Collections of fables