Fortune and the Boy by Jean de La Fontaine

Fortune finds a schoolboy asleep beside a deep, uncurbed well and gently wakes him, saving him from the danger of falling in. She warns him not to return, pointing out that, had his own rashness caused an accident, people would nevertheless have blamed her. The poem approves Fortune’s reasoning and observes that people commonly hold Fate responsible for the outcomes of their own foolishness and lack of foresight.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Poetry · 268 words

First lines

Beside a well, uncurb'd and deep, / A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: / (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) / If some kind man had seen him there, / He would have leap'd as if distracted; / But Fortune much more wisely acted; / For, passing by, she softly waked the child, / Thus whispering in accents mild: / 'I save your life, my little dear, / And beg you not to venture here / Again, for had you fallen in, / I should have had to bear the sin; / But I demand, in reason's name, / If for your rashness I'm to blame? ' / With this the goddess went her way. / I like her logic, I must say. / There takes place nothing on this planet, / But Fortune ends, whoe'er began it. / In all adventures good or ill, / We look to her to foot the bill. / Has one a stupid, empty pate, / That serves him never till too late, / He clears himself by blaming Fate! [1]

• Open reader

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Genres

• Fable — A brief allegorical narrative featuring the personified goddess Fortune, ending with an explicit moral about personal responsibility and the tendency to blame Fate.
• Didactic Literature — The poem is designed to instruct readers, particularly through its warning against rashness, carelessness, and evading responsibility.
• Moral Poetry — Its verse narrative culminates in a direct ethical lesson: foolish people often attribute the consequences of their own actions to Fortune or Fate.
• Allegory — Fortune acts as an embodied abstract force, allowing the poem to dramatize the conflict between chance and human accountability.

Tags

fable · verse narrative · moral tale · Aesopian tradition · French classical literature · seventeenth century · personified Fortune · Fate · personal responsibility · blaming fate · rashness · folly

What this Textopian page supports

Fortune and the Boy is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Poetry, Allegory, Philosophical Poetry
• Length: 268 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for Fortune and the Boy by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine