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The Fabliau and Popular Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
A recent study of the narrative art of Chaucer's Reeve's Tale attempted to set forth some of the technical excellences of the Old French fabliaux, to call attention to their striking resemblance in form to the modern short-story, and, with all due appreciation of the originality of all Chaucer's work, to show that he was technically at his best in tales like the Miller's and the Reeve's, because he was writing under the influence of the best narrative art of the Middle Ages, under the influence of the fabliaux. If these contentions are true, the fabliaux, in spite of their very manifest imperfections,—their lack of style, of moral sense, of any ideal or uplifting quality,—cannot be neglected in any study of Chaucer, of the short-story, or of the history of narration. It is the purpose of the present essay to push the inquiry a step farther back, and to ascertain what were, in turn, some of the possible sources of the technique of these early masterpieces of narration. The fabliaux themselves are, indeed, not all alike; they are to be found in all stages of elaboration, from the longer and more complex signed poems, which disclose an interest not only in plot, but also in character, emotions, scene, and even in moral significance, down to the mere anecdote, anonymous, brief, and simple. It is not difficult to see how the more complex fabliaux could be developed from the more simple. Seeking, however, forms still simpler and less developed than these latter, the critic is obliged to turn his back upon the literature of art and to examine the underlying stratum of the literature of the people. Such a procedure is suggested by the subtitle of Professor Bédier's Les Fabliaux,—“études de littérature populaire,”—by Professor Matthews's definition of the fabliau as “a realistic folk tale,” and by the general impression produced by the fabliau of kinship with ballad and folk tale. And it is justified by our knowledge of the general fact that popular literature precedes and paves the way for the literature of art. Fabliaux, ballads, folk tales are, then, to be analyzed and compared with a view to ascertaining what the more developed forms owe to the less developed. In making such analyses and comparisons it is always an advantage when the whole matter can be focussed upon such single stories as may appear in the various forms concerned. Such a narrowing down of the field makes for simplicity and clearness, and, provided the examples chosen be typical, does not invalidate the general truth of the conclusions.
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References
page 329 note 1 In the present volume of the Publications, pp. 1 ff.
page 330 note 1 Child, No. 156.
page 331 note 1 Montaiglon-Raynaud, No. 16.
page 331 note 2 Child, iii, 257.
page 331 note 3 In the present writer's Ballad and Epic, pp. 8 ff.
page 331 note 4 Professor Gummere refers to Hardy's Return of the Native, Chapter III.
page 331 note 5 Cf. Child, ii, 19.
page 332 note 1 Cf. Ballad and Epic, p. 57.
page 332 note 2 Cf. Gummere, The Popular Ballad, pp. 113 ff.
page 332 note 3 For relative emphasis of Introduction, Situation, and Conclusion, see p. 338, below.
Thus both attired then they go;
When they came to “Whitehall. … (st. 6).
page 333 note 2 Stanzas 3 and 7.
page 333 note 3 Cf. Ballad and Epic, pp. 20 ff. For tragic ballads of false wives see Old Robin of Portingale (80) or Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (81), both very different in tone from Queen Eleanor's Confession.
page 334 note 1 Child, No. 29. The same story is told in an Old French fabliau, but The Boy and the Mantle, like Crow and Pie (111), “ is not a purely popular ballad, but rather of that kind which. … may be called the minstrelballad.”—Child, ii, 478. It is, in fact, practically a fabliau, and thus not valuable for purposes of contrast.
page 334 note 2 Child, i, 257.
page 335 note 1 Cf. Gummere, The Popular Ballad, p. 60, n. 2.
page 335 note 2 About 1700.
page 336 note 1 De mautalent le nez fronci (v. 135).
page 337 note 1 The difference in emphasis and proportion can be shown most clearly by means of the following table. In the fabliau twenty per cent. of the story is taken from the Confession. Of this four per cent. is added to the Introduction, and sixteen to the Wife's Reply.
page 338 note 1 Now, however, only .62, as compared with the .71 of the ballad.
page 339 note 1 Cf., however, the careful explanation of the lady's failure to recognize her husband,—because of her great illness, his changed voice, and the darkness of the room illuminated only by a night lamp.
page 339 note 2 Cf. vv. 103 ff., 126 ff., 204 ff.
page 343 note 1 Grimm, no. 61. Dr. Weber regards Das Bürle as a schwankmärchen. Yet it differs from the schwank proper only in that it consists of a series of events instead of a single event.
page 343 note 2 Montaiglon-Raynaud, No. 132.
page 345 note 1 Where apparently the miller's wife went to bed and took the keys with her.
page 348 note 1 The figures are, roughly,—
1. The Wooden Calf, .19.
2. The Event in the Mill, .42.
3. The Triumph of Bürle, .39.
page 348 note 2 Cf. p. 367, below.
page 348 note 3 It is further noteworthy that the priest is allowed to escape without a beating because it is necessary for him to befriend the little peasant later in the story. In the fabliau, we shall see presently, this source of comic effect is possible, because the story ends here.
page 348 note 4 This art of preparation is not obvious or inevitable. A moment of hesitation, followed by “Oh, I had forgotten to say,” etc., is not uncommon with more cultivated, if less skilful, narrators. See Stevenson's comment on Scott's neglect of “preparation,” Memories and Portraits (1898), p. 272.
page 351 note 1 Like the savage punishment of wicked mothers-in-law, or the wanton beheading of unsuccessful suitors, in the märchen, this comic view of death, in the schwank, is doubtless a survival from primitive beginnings. It is not uncommon in popular literature,—see the variant versions of the tale now under discussion, and tales like that of the Three Monks of Colmar (Gesammtabenteuer, No. 62). But much the same thing appears in the familiar modern story of the Texas vigilance committee which hanged an innocent man for a horse-thief, and concluded its letter of apology to the widow, “We can only say, Madame, that the joke is on us.”
page 353 note 1 Except that the miller's wife is described as being very proud in manner, “mout fu de fier contenement” (v. 24).
page 354 note 1 Yet this does not account, as the storm does in the schwank, for the husband's unexpected return. The schwank is clearly, in this respect, superior.
page 355 note 1 See p. 367, below.
page 356 note 1 Cf. pp. 348–9, above.
page 356 note 2 A trace remains in the peasant's
“Que est ce, dame? avon nos vin?” (v. 187).
“Qu'est ce, dame? avon nos gastel?” (v. 211).
page 356 note 3 About 64 per cent.
page 357 note 1 In the schwank: “er. … bat um Herberge;” in the fabliau,
“ L'ostel li a li clers requis
Par charité et par amor“ (vv. 26 f.).
page 358 note 1 The Fabliaux are intended “bei passender Gelegenheit öffentlich recitiert zu werden.” J. Loth, Die Sprichwörter und Sentenzen der Alifranzösischen Fabliaux. They are, says Bédier, “destinés à la récitation publique.” Les Fabliaux, p. 37.
page 358 note 2 All that has just been said is equally true of Hans Sachs's Der farendt Schuler mit dem Teuffelbannen; schwank or fabliau become farce with the slightest of changes. The farce is obviously all dialogue, it is longer (2,150 words), and, like the fabliau, it is verse. The priest is received before the scholar, and both priest and Bewrin take part in turning out the scholar. The series of revelations does not appear. Instead, the final revelation is elaborated: the priest is compelled, disguised as the devil, to bring in wurst, semmel, and wine. The Bawer is frightened, but notices the resemblance to the priest. The wife declares that she would like to see the devil oftener in their house. Thus the tendency to give most space to what is most important, which increases as we pass from schwank to fabliau, is carried still further in the farce. The phase of life is practically that of the fabliau. There is the same underlying sense of poetic justice. There is still more, and more varied, group conversation. As in the schwank, however, the hero makes use of the belief in the supernatural to practice upon the stupidity of one of his victims; and the unexpected return of the husband is motived. On the whole,—except for the increase in dialogue,—it does not appear in any way necessary to suppose fabliau or its equivalent to intervene between schwank and farce. It is an easy step from schwank to farce direct.
page 359 note 1 Cf. p. 367, below.
page 360 note 1 Professor W. H. Browne prints it with Dunbar's poems in his Early Scottish Poets. To Professor Henderson “it does not seem to be stamped with the impress of Dunbar's peculiar genius. It is too purely and lightly comic, too genial, and even too merely superficial, to be his. The irony possesses little of his subtlety, corrosiveness, or depth. The style, easy, simple, and apt though it be, lacks his peculiar strength and incisiveness.” Scottish Vernacular Literature, p. 278. Professor G. Gregory Smith says: “The ascription of this piece to Dunbar has been doubted, but there is nothing in it unworthy of his metrical art or his satiric talent,” The Cambridge History of English Literature, ii, 288. The question of authorship is not involved in the present study. So long as it is unsettled, it will be convenient to speak of the author as Dunbar.
page 364 note 1 Cf. p.'367, below.
page 364 note 2 Yet there are some minor inconsistencies. Thus the two friars feared that the gates would be closed (v. 47), and for this reason planned to spend the night at Symon's. Yet when, as they were making merry they heard the bell, “they were agast,” because they knew that the gates were now closed (v. 77). Again, Aleson “covers the board” (v. 178), though she had already done so (v. 143). And, finally, Freir Robert conjures a good deal more out of the cupboard than Aleson put in. Cf. vv. 132 ff. and 151 ff. with vv. 361 ff. As a story grows longer it grows more difficult to handle.
page 364 note 3 This special delay, it will be remembered, is a virtue of the schwank, not found in the fabliau.
page 365 note 1 Cf. vv. 164 ff., 256 ff., 498 ff.
page 369 note 1 Cf. vv. 1084 f., 1099 f.
page 369 note 2 This stone, Professor Browne explains, was used for grinding mustard. Perhaps this was the purpose of the stone in the floor of the miller's house.
page 370 note 1 The Popular Ballad, p. 111.
page 373 note 1 It is interesting to note that the chief situation, in ballad, schwank, and fabliau, always occupies more than one-half of the story. De Maupassant's interest in a general question leads him to give equal space to an abstract discussion, leaving only a third of L' Inutile Beauté for the main scene or situation. Omit the discussion, surely not to the detriment of the story as a work of art, and the old proportion would be restored.
page 373 note 2 Cf. Ballad and Epic, pp. 307 ff.
page 374 note 1 Like Du Vair Palefroi, Le Lai d'Arislote, and others, discussed in the study of the Reeve's Tale, pp. 30 ff.