Fables

[SaligoBay]

Can anyone explain why French children are still studying FABLES in 5ème?    I know they were written by La Fontaine and all that, but they're still just fables, not really anything to get their pre-adolescent teeth into, surely? 

[Missy]

Ah!! 'Les fables de la Fontaine' why indeed are they still on the curriculum...

They were written in the time of 'Le Roi Soleil' as in 'La Gloire de la France c'est MOI ! ' but to have criticised or have made fun of him, his courtiers, their abhorrent extravagances would have been a one way ticket to the gallows (Mr Guillotin was not born yet!) 

If you read them carefully you can draw many parallels with the (supposedly) great and good of this world. Replace the animals for any one, in the world at large, of these that govern us and you can see that these fables still do apply to our modern world. In fact because the stories are said through the medium of animals interacting, they go down well in countries where you can not point the finger at a person to accuse it of wrong doing when that person is blatantly a tyrant. A bit of the 'emporor's new clothes' syndrome.

And it teaches children poetry, how to write in verses, different types of verses, stretch their imaginations etc... which I know is very difficult to do when in 5ème as I remember only too well !

[HLG]

HI,

As explained above, the Fables de La Fontaine represent Classicism in its easier form. Pupils could have Racine or Corneille but they'd be scratching their heads wondering what in the world it means (I only figured out Racine when I was 18 and Corneille disgusted me - what, kill your best friend just because the king asks??). At least they can make sense of the meaning in La Fontaine.

They are likely to encounter the Fables again in Seconde or Premiere, where they'll have to use them as examples of how Classicism differs from other literary styles (since fables have been written... 'since the dawn of time'...); what values were important in the times of Louis XIV; use Rousseau's criticism of the Fables to discuss changing ways of seeing children/education. Psychology tests have even been drawn to evaluate children's maturity based on what characters from La Fontaine they agreed with (for example, children who identify with the free, hungry wolf rather than with the content dog are likely to be tweens/teens already. I don't remember what the "cigale" or the "fourmi" meant...) Although I haven't seen it done, you could even have education civique debates with them - like: do you agree with the selfish but hard-working fourmi, or do you agree with the carefree cigale? Isn't the cigale selfish too, expecting to be bailed out by the fourmi? Is the fourmi just in enjoying the rewards of her work, if she lets her neighbor die? How has the modern state figured out a way to keep both fourmis and cigales happy?

It's really fascinating if you think those fables were originally meant to teach the future king about his duties ... What kind of morale did the little King-in-training get! And now all children get to be educated like king used to be... :-) :-) ;-)

[SaligoBay]

Thank you, I have seen the light!  [:)]

[Joannaall the best, Joanna]

My son is doing fables this term in quatrieme! [:)]