The Horoscope by Jean de La Fontaine

Name: The Horoscope
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

In “The Horoscope,” a father, terrified by an astrologer’s warning that his only son will die if he sees a lion before the age of twenty, confines the boy within his palace. The youth is allowed every pleasure indoors but is forbidden to leave, and hunting is portrayed to him as a disgraceful pastime. Yet his desire for the woods and the chase grows stronger through opposition. Surrounded by tapestries and paintings depicting hunting feats, he comes to resent a painted lion, believing it to be the cause of his imprisonment. He strikes at the image, drives his hand onto a hidden nail, and dies despite medical efforts. The father’s attempt to avoid the predicted danger thus produces the fatal event. A similar tale is told of Aeschylus. Warned that a falling house will kill him, he leaves the shelter of buildings and lives outdoors. An eagle carrying a tortoise mistakes his bare head for a rock on which to break its prey, drops the tortoise upon him, and kills him. These examples suggest that prophecies can cause people to bring about the very disasters they fear. The speaker, however, rejects astrology altogether, denying that human destinies are fixed by the stars. A king and a labourer may be born under the same planet yet lead utterly different lives; planets are lifeless bodies, too distant and obstructed to direct events on earth. Astrologers failed to predict a war affecting all Europe, and the sudden turns of passion and reckless conduct cannot be mapped by remote planetary lights. The supposed fulfilments of horoscopes are no better than chance: even a blind person may occasionally hit a small target.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Satire · 1,190 words

First lines

On death we mortals often run, / Just by the roads we take to shun.

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Genres

Fable — The poem uses a brief illustrative narrative involving a father, his son, and a fatal misinterpretation of prophecy to convey a moral argument.
Didactic Poetry — Its principal purpose is instructional: it warns that attempts to evade foretold dangers may cause the very outcomes they seek to prevent.
Satire — La Fontaine ridicules astrologers, horoscopes, and believers in planetary determinism through irony, rhetorical questions, and dismissive language.
Philosophical Poetry — The work considers fate, free will, causation, human agency, superstition, and the limits of claims about nature.

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The Horoscope is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Satire, Philosophical Poetry, Narrative Poetry
Length: 1,190 words
Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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