The lark with its young and the landowner

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L'Alouette et ses petits, avec le Maître d'un champ

The lark with its young and the landowner (French : L'Alouette et ses petits, avec le Maître d'un champ ) is the 22nd fable in the fourth book of the Fables Choisies collection , Mises En Vers by Jean de La Fontaine .

The fable illustrates the relative value of true and false eloquence using the example of a lark and a landowner by comparing two parents: A lark that breeds a little late in a landowner's corn field discovers that its young are not yet fully fledged than they are Harvest time has come. The young larks hear the landlord sending his son to summon harvest workers, and they are in an uproar. The mother reassures her children that he will wait in vain for helpers and that the family can take their time. The larks only leave the nest when the farmer realizes that he could not rely on friends or relatives and that he has to clear the field himself. The Lark Mother's speech shows the correct assessment of the immediate circumstances and illustrates true eloquence. The persistent farmer, on the other hand, is not a deliberate liar, but is blind to the truth both about himself and about the world.

With the isolated lark arriving too late, La Fontaine offers a counter-image to the other animals subordinate to natural law. The poet gives the picture in its obligatory generality so that the individual case is perceived as particularly important and the making up for what has been neglected as necessary. This natural entrance has another meaning: the opponent of the lark family is the human being, the field owner, who first has to reflect on himself until the lark feels the time of departure has come. As long as the landowner relies on friends and relatives to mow , there is still no hurry. The law of man (French: Ne t'attends qu'á toi-méme ; German: Expect only yourself ) contrasts with the natural law ( love in spring ). The lark can catch up with the delay in relation to natural law as long as the field owner relies on others. The withdrawal of the birds at the end of the fable is not just seen as a painterly one, but has its functional meaning: the emphasis on the moment of time, furthermore on the fact that the farmer had hesitated so long.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean de La Fontaine: Fables Choisies, Mises En Vers. P. 45 , accessed on January 19, 2020 (French).
  2. ↑ Andrew Calder: The Fables of La Fontaine: Wisdom Brought Down to Earth . Librairie Droz, 2001, ISBN 978-2-600-00464-0 , pp. 69 (English, google.de [accessed January 19, 2020]).
  3. ^ Leo Spitzer : Romance Literature Studies: 1936–1956 . The art of transition at La Fontaine. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-154953-8 , p. 201–202 ( google.de [accessed January 19, 2020]).