390th Anniversary of Jean de La Fontaine
Today, google doodle France comes with a theme of 390th anniversary of Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621, Château-Thierry – April 13, 1695, Paris) was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.
According to Flaubert, he was the only French poet to understand and master the texture of the French language before Hugo. A set of postage stamps celebrating La Fontaine and the Fables was issued by France in 1995. A film of his life was released in France in April 2007 (Jean de La Fontaine - le défi starring Lorant Deutsch).
Individual fables
The following fables have individual articles devoted to them:
* The Ant and the Grasshopper (La cigale et la fourmi, I.1)
* The Ass in the Lion's Skin (L’âne vêtu de la peau du lion, V.21)
* The Bear and the Gardener (L'ours et l'amateur des jardins, VIII.10)
* The Bear and the Travelers (L’ours et les deux compagnons, V.20)
* The Belly and the Members (Les membres et l'estomac, III.2)
* The cat and an old rat (Le chat et un vieux rat, III.18)
* The cat turned into a woman (La chatte métamorphosée en femme, II.18)
* The cock and the pearl (Le coq et la perle, I.20)
* The cock and the fox (Le coq et le renard, II.15)
Born 8 July 1621 (1621-07-08)
Château-Thierry, Champagne.
Died 13 April 1695 (1695-04-13) (aged 73)
Paris, France
Occupation Fabulist, Poet
For more detail, read in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine