Tales from the Old French by Isabel Butler
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"Tales from the Old French" by Isabel Butler is a collection of medieval literature written in the early 20th century. This anthology presents a selection of works from the Old French tradition, including lais, fabliaux, and didactic tales, which capture the values, morals, and cultural expressions of the time. The stories weave themes of love, chivalry, and wisdom, often featuring knights and noble ladies embroiled in romantic and moral dilemmas. At the
start of the collection, readers are introduced to a variety of captivating tales. One such story is "The Lay of the Bird," which describes a rich villein who owns a magical orchard. The tale centers on a wondrous bird that sings in the orchard, its song capable of enchanting listeners and ensuring the vitality of the land. However, when the greedy villein captures the bird for profit, he learns a hard lesson about loss and the consequences of greed. The opening sets a tone of magical realism, grounding it in the broader narrative traditions where moral lessons are drawn through enchanting imagery and poignant encounters. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Translator | Butler, Isabel |
|---|---|
| Title | Tales from the Old French |
| Contents | Lais: The lay of the bird. The woful knight / Marie de France. The two lovers / Marie de France. Eliduc / Marie de France. Melion. The lay of the horn / Robert Biquet -- Fabliaux: The divided blanket / Bernier. Of the churl who won Paradise. The gray palfrey / Huon Leroi -- Contes dévots et didactiques: The knight of the little cask. The angel and the hermit. The jousting of Our Lady. The Order of Chivalry -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Translator's note. |
| Credits |
Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 77.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Subject | Tales -- France -- Translations into English |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 36658 |
| Release Date | Jul 8, 2011 |
| Last Update | Jan 7, 2021 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 480 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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