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The Fabliaux: A New Verse Translation
Bawdier than The Canterbury Tales, The Fabliaux is the first major English translation of the most scandalous and irreverent poetry in Western literature.
Composed between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, these virtually unknown erotic and satiric poems lie at the root of the Western comic tradition. Passed down by the anticlerical middle classes of medieval France, The Fabliaux depicts priapic priests, randy wives, and their cuckolded husbands in tales that are shocking even by today’s standards. Chaucer and Boccaccio borrowed heavily from these riotous tales, which were the wit of the common man rebelling against the aristocracy and Church in matters of food, money, and sex. Containing 69 poems with a parallel Old French text, The Fabliaux comes to life in a way that has never been done in nearly eight hundred years.
591 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 3, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 26, 2023
In this book are the Fabliaux,
Old French poems, lewd nasty and low.
The ending rhyme is often forced in,
Thanks to translator Nathaniel Dubin.
Sixty nine poems are herein present.
All about middle class and naughty peasants.
And naughtier still are the priests and the ladies
Although no tale is bad as people in Hades.
In each the reward is all for the cleverest
Fast thinking wins over the mere pious saintliest.
Do not expect all to be in smooth couplets,
As some are roughhewn,
Made like badly butchered cutlets.
Originally told to Christians 12th Century
They all deal with subjects earthy and sensory.
So this is not best for devoutly faint hearted
Or those who blanch at words like: who f**ted?
Instead for the scholarly and those who jest crude,
Fabliaux win by being sly and skewed.
We tend to think all ye olde stories were writ clean.
And all tales told condemned that which was mean.
The Fabliaux serve here to tell the truth plainly
And that truth is bawdy and body functions mainly.
So treat yourself to reading Fabliaux, the funny, the bad and the fine
And accept that translated old French can scan poorly
With many forced rhymes.
Old French poems, lewd nasty and low.
The ending rhyme is often forced in,
Thanks to translator Nathaniel Dubin.
Sixty nine poems are herein present.
All about middle class and naughty peasants.
And naughtier still are the priests and the ladies
Although no tale is bad as people in Hades.
In each the reward is all for the cleverest
Fast thinking wins over the mere pious saintliest.
Do not expect all to be in smooth couplets,
As some are roughhewn,
Made like badly butchered cutlets.
Originally told to Christians 12th Century
They all deal with subjects earthy and sensory.
So this is not best for devoutly faint hearted
Or those who blanch at words like: who f**ted?
Instead for the scholarly and those who jest crude,
Fabliaux win by being sly and skewed.
We tend to think all ye olde stories were writ clean.
And all tales told condemned that which was mean.
The Fabliaux serve here to tell the truth plainly
And that truth is bawdy and body functions mainly.
So treat yourself to reading Fabliaux, the funny, the bad and the fine
And accept that translated old French can scan poorly
With many forced rhymes.
April 16, 2017
Le livre du Coeur d'amour épris, par le roi René d'Anjou.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr
A côté des œuvres narrant les hauts faits chevaleresques, édifiant pour la noblesse, une littérature d’inspiration populaire a été préservée des injures du temps. Les quelques fabliaux présents dans ce petit recueil datent du XIIème au XIVème siècle, dont de l’âge d’or capétien à la fin de la guerre de cent ans. Après 1330, le genre si s’éteint, son esprit reste dans les œuvres de Boccace et de Chaucer. Ces fabliaux étaient pour l’ordinaire chantés par des saltimbanques, et visaient à faire plaisir à l’auditoire avec des histoires volontiers grivoises, amusantes, distrayantes, souvent anticléricales mais jamais contre la religion, si ce n’est qu’ils mettent en scène le stupre et la fornication. Au final, ils se révèlent très excellents pour la santé, car capables de vaincre le cafard le plus noir, car comme il est expliqué dans l’un d’eux :
Les fabliaux, aujourd'hui, sont très en vogue: ceux qui les racontent et les colportent encaissent grâce à eux maints deniers, car ils apportent un grand réconfort à ceux qui travaillent et aux oisifs, pourvu qu'il n'y ait des gens trop bruyants. Même ceux qui sont pleins d'angoisse, s'ils entendent un bon fabliau, en reçoivent un grand soulagement, jusqu'à oublier deuil, chagrin, apathie et les idées noires.
*La Saigneuse raconte les mésaventures d’un mari qui se vanta imprudemment que jamais sa femme ne le pourrait tromper. Une rodomontade aussi imprudente que vaine ne pouvait que lui attirer le juste salaire de sa présomption. Le titre renferme un calembour jouant sur le double sens entre saigner saigner, et saner « faire du bien » « être bon ».
Grandes Chroniques de France.
*De la demoiselle qui songeoit traite d’un rêve érotique qui se concrétise, et de ce qu’il advient au réveil.
*La Damoisele qui ne pooit oïr parler de foutre souligne tout l’intérêt de du langage métaphorique, et donc toute la puissance de l’imagination dans l'accomplissement des travaux de Vénus.
*Le vilain de Bailluel est attribué à Jean Bodel, et montre toute la perfidie dont est capable un prêtre qui en vient à désirer la femme de son prochain, et qui abuse autant de l’autorité que lui confère sa charge que de la sottise de sa victime.
*Gombert et les deux clercs met encore en scène deux ecclésiastiques à qui les vœux de chasteté pèsent bien trop lourd.
*Le sohait des Vez est une autre histoire de Jean Bodel, et relate le rêve très singulier d’une honnête femme de Douai, et de ce qu’il advient une fois qu’elle s’en ouvrit.
« Le Champion des Dames, » par « MARTIN LE FRANC, prevost de l'église de Lausane. » (1440).
*Le prestre ki abevet de Garin a été repris dans le Decaméron : il narre la très plaisante astuce d’un prêtre pour tromper la simplicité d’un paysan, car il faut croire que c’est rendre justice à l’intelligence que de faire des dupes.
*Les tresses sont une remarquables mystification par laquelle la ruse féminine montre le son talent le plus consommé, au point de faire tourner en bourrique la pauvre victime de son astuce.
*Celle qui fu foutue et desfoutue por une Grue montre les risques de l'innocence.
*Le chevalier qui faisait parler les Cons est un conte fantastique dont le titre trahit le ressort essentiel.
« Le Champion des Dames, » par « MARTIN LE FRANC, prevost de l'église de Lausane. » (1440).
*Berangier au long cul est un conte d’origine mongole (Siddhi-Kûr) dont on retrouve des éléments dans Audibert et le Roman de Renard. Garin a été l’auteur de ce fabliau qui joue avec le mélange des genres.
*Le prestre taint de Gautier le Leu donne enfin aux vilains l’occasion de se venger de la concupiscence des prêtres.
Grandes Chroniques de France.
*La Veuve donne de cette condition une vision plutôt misogyne.
*Trubert de Douin de Lavesne est de loin le plus long de ces fabliaux, et nous permet de suivre les aventures d’un luron déluré et astucieux, bien propre à faire tourner en bourriques prêtres et seigneurs, et à se donner tout le bon temps que son audace lui promet.
Ces fabliaux, quoique un peu déshonnêtes, ne laissent pas d’être plaisants par leur invention et leur audace. Ils permettent également de voir un quotidien que les romans de chevalerie gomment le plus souvent, ces derniers se concentrant sur le merveilleux et l’édifiant. Ces fabliaux célèbrent au contraire la vie, le bon sens populaire, et les appétits sensuels, bien loin des embêtants interdits religieux, ainsi que le fait également le Roman de Renart. Sans vouloir imaginer une quelconque influence, on peut noter un parallèle entre ces fabliaux moyenâgeux et leurs ancêtres de l’antiquité, en particulier l’Âne d’Or d’Apulée, le Philogelos, la vie d’Ésope, ou les fables d’Ésope elle-même : on retrouve le même souffle populaire qui raille la culture aristocratique et fait l’éloge du bon sens, de l’astuce et de la vie sensuelle. Et la raison raisonnante, obéissante et disciplinée, philosophique et sentencieuse se retrouve raillée autant que sa petite sœur, la franche sottise. Et on retrouvera dans Boccace, dans Rabelais et dans Molière ce même génie populaire et libérateur.
Le livre du Coeur d'amour épris, par le roi René d'Anjou.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr
July 30, 2015
A fun mix of mostly humorous medieval poems that can get downright lewd and crude. Though almost 1000 pages in length, half is the medieval French text and the other half the English translation, both of which face each other throughout the book. I read the last half in a couple of days of dedicated reading (when I ran out of library renewals) so it's not impossible to get through it fairly quick but it might tax your patience.
The English translation is admirable in its attempt to mimic the rhyming schemes of the original medieval French but too often it feels awkwardly forced and it made me wonder many times if more authentic word choices were being sacrificed for the sometimes clumsy rhymes (though I do admire the pairing of "screwed" and "food").
I coincidentally read this while reading about the Magna Carta, which roughly covers the same time period as these poems' composition (c. 1200) and the area they came from (northern France), so it was quite illuminating learning the background of such a historical document while also getting the flavor of what the everyday people would have heard from passing jongleurs. It seems these fabliaux were parodies of the more highbrow poetical forms of the time---I guess making fun of the serious minded culture has never been out of fashion. The better ones were those that had clever twists or (relatively) complicated plots. Some reminded me of Benny Hill sketches, though BH is much tamer than these fabliaux.
While I was surprised by how crude (in carnality or blunt description) some of these poems could be I was more surprised by the level of misogyny in them. I mean, I know that's how the world was then but to see it over and over as the lesson of most of the poems (that women are never to be trusted) was just... tiring. But there was plenty of humor and just outright grossness to make it a worthwhile read, even if not every poem was a winner. The less amusing ones still provide examples of the genre and it's amazing that we have them at all.
Now for some basic numbers about the book, followed by the titles of the fabliaux that I think were especially memorable.
69 (har har) fabliaux in total
poems range anywhere from around 50-950 lines
945 pages of text (original language and English translation)
25 pages of notes (keyed to number lines but not noted in any way in the poems themselves)
3 pages of bibliography
The more memorable fabliaux (with some censored titles because even I can't type out some of these words)
#13: The Stupid Knight: a comedy of errors involving a dumb husband, his smart wife, household guests and mistaken intentions
#14: The Knight Who Made C**** Talk: a knight has the power to make a certain female body part speak the truth... and I didn't see the twist coming!
#16: The Piece of Shit, #17: Black Balls: just, eww.
#18: The Peasant Doctor: a wife beater is taught a lesson by his wife
#19: Long Butthole Berengier: a wife gets the better of her cocky husband
#25: The Mourner Who Got F***** at the Grave Site: exactly what it says, this one impressed me by its cleverness. One knight bets another that he can seduce a widow at the site of her husband's grave. He succeeds, and how he does it actually made me laugh out loud.
#39: The Crane: absurdly funny because of the play on a certain word
#43: Gombert: a comedy of errors type story involving mistaken identities in dark bedrooms (apparently used later by other medieval authors in more famous versions)
#45: The Butcher of Abbeville: a long con revenge is expertly played
#50: The Miller of Arleux: man and wife try to outsmart each other but both end up getting fooled
#51: Jouglet: The most disgusting revenge I've ever laughed at
#52: The Two Peasants: Like "Gombert" but with even sillier comedic misunderstandings
#53: The Three Hunchbacks: macabre humor where a dead body just won't stay away!
#54: The Portable Priest: another absurdly macabre story about a corpse inconveniencing different people for different reasons (I think this was also in the Arabian Nights story cycle)
#55: Constant Du Hamel: a wife refuses to sleep with a group of men, the men punish her husband, and she seeks her revenge (I think this was the longest poem at 955 lines)
#60: The Squirrel, #61: The Maiden Who Couldn't Abide Lewd Language: euphemisms reign in these really raunchy stories
#62: Saint Martin's Four Wishes: the most surreal story that's a variation on "be careful what you wish for"---so many genitals!
#69: The Man Who Saved His Buddy From Drowning: proves that frivolous litigation is a time honored tradition
I found this a worthwhile read. The book itself is very nice, a hardcover edition with quality paper and a sewn-in ribbon to mark your place. You can't go wrong starting here if you've never before read any fabliaux.
The English translation is admirable in its attempt to mimic the rhyming schemes of the original medieval French but too often it feels awkwardly forced and it made me wonder many times if more authentic word choices were being sacrificed for the sometimes clumsy rhymes (though I do admire the pairing of "screwed" and "food").
I coincidentally read this while reading about the Magna Carta, which roughly covers the same time period as these poems' composition (c. 1200) and the area they came from (northern France), so it was quite illuminating learning the background of such a historical document while also getting the flavor of what the everyday people would have heard from passing jongleurs. It seems these fabliaux were parodies of the more highbrow poetical forms of the time---I guess making fun of the serious minded culture has never been out of fashion. The better ones were those that had clever twists or (relatively) complicated plots. Some reminded me of Benny Hill sketches, though BH is much tamer than these fabliaux.
While I was surprised by how crude (in carnality or blunt description) some of these poems could be I was more surprised by the level of misogyny in them. I mean, I know that's how the world was then but to see it over and over as the lesson of most of the poems (that women are never to be trusted) was just... tiring. But there was plenty of humor and just outright grossness to make it a worthwhile read, even if not every poem was a winner. The less amusing ones still provide examples of the genre and it's amazing that we have them at all.
Now for some basic numbers about the book, followed by the titles of the fabliaux that I think were especially memorable.
69 (har har) fabliaux in total
poems range anywhere from around 50-950 lines
945 pages of text (original language and English translation)
25 pages of notes (keyed to number lines but not noted in any way in the poems themselves)
3 pages of bibliography
The more memorable fabliaux (with some censored titles because even I can't type out some of these words)
#13: The Stupid Knight: a comedy of errors involving a dumb husband, his smart wife, household guests and mistaken intentions
#14: The Knight Who Made C**** Talk: a knight has the power to make a certain female body part speak the truth... and I didn't see the twist coming!
#16: The Piece of Shit, #17: Black Balls: just, eww.
#18: The Peasant Doctor: a wife beater is taught a lesson by his wife
#19: Long Butthole Berengier: a wife gets the better of her cocky husband
#25: The Mourner Who Got F***** at the Grave Site: exactly what it says, this one impressed me by its cleverness. One knight bets another that he can seduce a widow at the site of her husband's grave. He succeeds, and how he does it actually made me laugh out loud.
#39: The Crane: absurdly funny because of the play on a certain word
#43: Gombert: a comedy of errors type story involving mistaken identities in dark bedrooms (apparently used later by other medieval authors in more famous versions)
#45: The Butcher of Abbeville: a long con revenge is expertly played
#50: The Miller of Arleux: man and wife try to outsmart each other but both end up getting fooled
#51: Jouglet: The most disgusting revenge I've ever laughed at
#52: The Two Peasants: Like "Gombert" but with even sillier comedic misunderstandings
#53: The Three Hunchbacks: macabre humor where a dead body just won't stay away!
#54: The Portable Priest: another absurdly macabre story about a corpse inconveniencing different people for different reasons (I think this was also in the Arabian Nights story cycle)
#55: Constant Du Hamel: a wife refuses to sleep with a group of men, the men punish her husband, and she seeks her revenge (I think this was the longest poem at 955 lines)
#60: The Squirrel, #61: The Maiden Who Couldn't Abide Lewd Language: euphemisms reign in these really raunchy stories
#62: Saint Martin's Four Wishes: the most surreal story that's a variation on "be careful what you wish for"---so many genitals!
#69: The Man Who Saved His Buddy From Drowning: proves that frivolous litigation is a time honored tradition
I found this a worthwhile read. The book itself is very nice, a hardcover edition with quality paper and a sewn-in ribbon to mark your place. You can't go wrong starting here if you've never before read any fabliaux.
March 28, 2021
My friend Jo bought this for me because I ‘like the Middle Ages’. When I showed her the contents she denied all knowledge and said someone else must have given it to me. I mean, she had literally just handed it to me. To be fair, even I was shocked when I opened it up and saw the first poem was called ‘The Cunt Made with a Spade’. It doesn’t get any better: ‘The Knight Who Made Cunts Talk’, The Piece of Shit’ (a personal favourite), ‘The Fucker’. Shocking stuff, and incredibly funny. Sometimes you think you’ll be safe. ‘Saint Martin’s Four Wishes’ sounds ok. No. It’s the worst (best) of the bunch.
I’d recommend it to perverts and people who like the Middle Ages. It makes a nice present. It has the French text with a facing English translation that is line-for-line and still manages to replicate the octosyllabic couplets while being funny. Remarkable achievement. I have the first edition. Well bound. Boards covered in purple paper, illustrated and gilt stamped. Lovely paper. Fussy typeface.
I’d recommend it to perverts and people who like the Middle Ages. It makes a nice present. It has the French text with a facing English translation that is line-for-line and still manages to replicate the octosyllabic couplets while being funny. Remarkable achievement. I have the first edition. Well bound. Boards covered in purple paper, illustrated and gilt stamped. Lovely paper. Fussy typeface.
June 8, 2014
Want to come upstairs and see my collection of naughty verse from 14th century France? Well here they are.... What were you expecting?
These narrative poems provide an interesting insight into the everyday life of the common men and women. The poems, as life back then, revolve around men-women relationships, marriage, sex, the church and money.
It’s hard for us to imagine the level of poverty and impoverishment that 14th century peasants endured. The capriciousness of life was also another factor, with a small cut potentially causing a deadly infection, or an accident as simple as a broken arm dramatically altering your life (and your ability to survive).
But like people today, 14th century commoners enjoyed laughing at each other and at authority. They also enjoyed stories of cuckolded men and shrewish women and the battle of the sexes.
This is an interesting collection. I’m glad to have the opportunity to read them. But this collection seemed much longer than the 450 pages it is. (The book is 900 pages, but the original French is printed on the facing page.) Part of it is the similarity of the tales.
Part of it is the translation, which I find less than compelling. Granted, it’s supposed to be rather silly, like a stretched limerick or nursery rhyme. But the translator goes to painful lengths to create some rhymes that are neither interesting nor compelling.
Good rhymes should be surprising. Taking the word “about” and ending one line with “a” and continuing with “bout” is a painful way to maintain a rhyme without any payoff. The translator would have been better to simply skip some rhymes and focused on making the ones that are there more compelling.
These narrative poems provide an interesting insight into the everyday life of the common men and women. The poems, as life back then, revolve around men-women relationships, marriage, sex, the church and money.
It’s hard for us to imagine the level of poverty and impoverishment that 14th century peasants endured. The capriciousness of life was also another factor, with a small cut potentially causing a deadly infection, or an accident as simple as a broken arm dramatically altering your life (and your ability to survive).
But like people today, 14th century commoners enjoyed laughing at each other and at authority. They also enjoyed stories of cuckolded men and shrewish women and the battle of the sexes.
This is an interesting collection. I’m glad to have the opportunity to read them. But this collection seemed much longer than the 450 pages it is. (The book is 900 pages, but the original French is printed on the facing page.) Part of it is the similarity of the tales.
Part of it is the translation, which I find less than compelling. Granted, it’s supposed to be rather silly, like a stretched limerick or nursery rhyme. But the translator goes to painful lengths to create some rhymes that are neither interesting nor compelling.
Good rhymes should be surprising. Taking the word “about” and ending one line with “a” and continuing with “bout” is a painful way to maintain a rhyme without any payoff. The translator would have been better to simply skip some rhymes and focused on making the ones that are there more compelling.
June 10, 2014
This is a great collection of entertaining tales from medieval France that collectively are a clear influence on Boccaccio and Chaucer. Also, "The Three Hunchbacks" and "The Portable Priest" either influenced or were influenced by The Arabian Nights' "The Story of the Hunchback." I haven't done the homework, so I don't know which came first. As with any anthology, there are plenty of duds mixed in with the gems, but that goes with the territory. About two thirds of the tales were a lot of fun to read, and about a third were worth reading at least twice. Most of them were also very short (less than ten pages of verse) so even if you read one you don't like, it's no big deal. I will say I found the general introduction useful if concise, but the section introductions were too brief and general to provide any real information. In addition, I found the endnotes to be kind of empty. It is not that these introductions or notes distracted from the reading, but that they didn't really add to it. I was left wondering why they were included. A final note: Although the book seems like it is almost a thousand pages, it is actually only five hundred verse pages, which is really about two or three hundred prose pages. So for those of you out there who are intimidated by the length of a book, don't worry! This one is worth it!
July 16, 2018
Hahahhaha!
I continuously find myself laughing at how candid the authors are. While I am a huge fan of Chaucer, Marie de France, Bocaccio, and Chrétien de Troyes, these authors truly have an unexpurgated sense of base humour that many other’s can only grasp at (like fingertips scrapping at the bottom crumbs of a sponged barrel). I do not advise these tales for the prude, easily offended, nor those who simply become angry whenever something offensive casts a shadow their way, especially when it comes to religion. For all others who enjoy an uncensored, medieval-peasant-comical-stupidity, enjoy, it will not disappoint.
I continuously find myself laughing at how candid the authors are. While I am a huge fan of Chaucer, Marie de France, Bocaccio, and Chrétien de Troyes, these authors truly have an unexpurgated sense of base humour that many other’s can only grasp at (like fingertips scrapping at the bottom crumbs of a sponged barrel). I do not advise these tales for the prude, easily offended, nor those who simply become angry whenever something offensive casts a shadow their way, especially when it comes to religion. For all others who enjoy an uncensored, medieval-peasant-comical-stupidity, enjoy, it will not disappoint.
April 16, 2014
These medieval French tales give an amusing insight into certain classic situations of French drama and literature, especially comic works. I found them fun for the first 400 pages or so, and then tougher to get through. I mean, how many times can you listen to the same dirty jokes told over and over again?
December 19, 2013
It took me a while but I thoroughly enjoyed this big book of raunchy French fables that pre-date Geoffrey Chaucer. I just may have to read the Canterbury Tales fairly soon so I can compare the two. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry and/or medieval literature.
November 26, 2014
Comedic tales that should be read out loud.
June 5, 2016
I won this novel in the Goodreads giveaway! I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of poetry. Deliciously naughty and wittingly entertaining I found myself lost in the tales The Fabliaux offers.
March 11, 2020
Loved the rhymes in the translation & very helpful how many were translated. Content was scandalous but funny and v. interesting especially on the subject of how medieval people viewed their own sexuality.
June 5, 2021
These were entertaining and the editors did a good job of spacing out the more misogynistic stories so they didn’t become overwhelming and depressing. In the second part, some of the translations felt awkward to read and I had to go over them several times to get the meaning.
November 13, 2023
Incredible compilation of entertainingly filthy poetry. Replete with, ah, the attitudes of the time on matters of gender etc. - but with an irreverence towards all of that which is refreshing. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
May 28, 2019
Oh là là qu’est que je viens de lire...
November 6, 2022
"Hilarant" disait ma prof de littérature
October 11, 2023
Read this for my british literature class :(
January 17, 2024
mogło być gorzej
June 28, 2025
(1,75) la curiosité n’est vraisemblablement pas toujours une qualité
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December 16, 2025quite glad to be done with them but i did have a fantastic time with all this medieval french smut. read them in french too for my essay
May 17, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed these poems. Not only are many of them funny and tongue in cheek, but they also provide a unique glimpse into the "average" man's view of the French Church in the 12 to 14th centuries.
January 13, 2023
Enormously fun and full of twists.
November 28, 2021
This bawdy precursor to The Canterbury Tales is occasionally surprising and hilarious. Most of the stories are only a few pages long. Overall it’s an entertaining way to gain insight into the lives and values of the middle class in Medieval France.
August 30, 2021
Love the translation and keep referencing this little gem.
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April 20, 20231160 - 1400
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews