Chapters 2 and 3 created an inventory of those fabliaux whose logical structure could be accounted for by one of the permutations derived from the four possibilities for actant distribution, (E), (EE), (E1) or (E2), and one of the three possibilities for logical fallacy, (AA), (AB), or (A+B). The twelve patterns produced by various combinations of these elements account for approximately half of extant fabliaux. They also account for all fabliau episodes, but the remaining fabliaux, rather than simply exploiting one of the twelve patterns to produce a complete narrative, join two or more epistemes or two or more narremes together to form a more complex structure. This chapter will deal with those fabliaux that combine two or more epistemes in a single narreme.

The relationship between any two epistemes is determined by the factors mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the distribution of the actants and the nature of the logical fallacies. For two epistemes to be linked together to form a single, logically integrated narrative, at least one actant must appear in both epistemes, although not necessarily in the same actantial role. The distribution of the actants may follow any one of three possibilities:

1. (i) The subject- and object-actants remain unchanged as between the first and second epistemes.

2. (ii) The roles of the subject- and object-actants of the first episteme are reversed in the second episteme.

3. (iii) One of the actants in the first episteme does not appear in the second episteme, and one of the actants in the second episteme has made no appearance in the first episteme.