The Fox and the Bust by Jean de La Fontaine

The great, like stage maskers, impress simple people with an appearance that conceals their true nature. The wary fox examines them closely and, seeing that their glory is only a thin semblance, refuses to humble himself before them. When a colossal bust draws a crowd, he praises the sculptor’s work but judges it a fine head without brains, a remark that he says applies to many lords.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Satire · 212 words

First lines

The great are like the maskers of the stage; / Their show deceives the simple of the age. / For all that they appear to be they pass, / With only those whose type's the ass. / The fox, more wary, looks beneath the skin, / And looks on every side, and, when he sees / That all their glory is a semblance thin, / He turns, and saves the hinges of his knees, / With such a speech as once, 'tis said, / He utter'd to a hero's head. / A bust, somewhat colossal in its size, / Attracted crowds of wondering eyes. / The fox admired the sculptor's pains: / 'Fine head,' said he, 'but void of brains! ' / The same remark to many a lord applies.[1]

[1]: Aesop: Phaedrus, I. 7 (The Fox and the Tragic Mask).

• Open reader

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Genres

• Fable — The poem uses a fox, a conventional fable figure, to deliver a concise moral lesson about deceptive appearances and empty grandeur.
• Didactic Poetry — Its primary purpose is instructional: it warns readers not to mistake outward magnificence, status, or display for intelligence and substance.
• Satire — The closing comparison of the brainless bust to noblemen sharply mocks aristocratic vanity, social pretension, and hollow authority.
• Allegory — The fox's judgment of the impressive but empty head functions allegorically, representing prudent discernment in the face of public illusion.

Tags

French fable · verse fable · seventeenth-century literature · moral satire · social satire · aristocratic pretension · appearance versus reality · false grandeur · empty authority · courtly hierarchy · the great and the common people · the cunning fox

What this Textopian page supports

The Fox and the Bust 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 Poetry, Satire, Allegory, Moral Poetry
• Length: 212 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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• Work identity for The Fox and the Bust 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