The Man and the Wooden God

A pagan worships a wooden god, enriching its shrine with vows, offerings, and sacrificed, garlanded bullocks in hopes of gaining wealth, inheritance, luck, or favour. Despite the idol’s well-filled kitchen, it gives him nothing and does not protect him from losses when trouble comes. Growing impatient, the man smashes the god with a crowbar and discovers that it is filled with gold. He angrily rejects the idol, concluding that some dull and gross natures yield nothing through generosity but only through force.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Verse Fable, Didactic Literature · 349 words

First lines

A pagan kept a god of wood, -- / A sort that never hears, / Though furnish'd well with ears, -- / From which he hoped for wondrous good. / The idol cost the board of three; / So much enrich'd was he / With vows and offerings vain, / With bullocks garlanded and slain: / No idol ever had, as that, / A kitchen quite so full and fat. / But all this worship at his shrine / Brought not from this same block divine / Inheritance, or hidden mine, / Or luck at play, or any favour. / Nay, more, if any storm whatever / Brew'd trouble here or there, / The man was sure to have his share, / And suffer in his purse, / Although the god fared none the worse. / At last, by sheer impatience bold, / The man a crowbar seizes, / His idol breaks in pieces, / And finds it richly stuff'd with gold. / 'How's this? Have I devoutly treated,' / Says he, 'your godship, to be cheated? / Now leave my house, and go your way, / And search for altars where you may. / You're like those natures, dull and gross, / From, which comes nothing but by blows; / The more I gave, the less I got; / I'll now be rich, and you may rot. '[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

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• The Raven And The Fox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Wolf The Mother And Her Child by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Woodman And Mercury by Jean De La Fontaine
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Genres

• Fable — The work is a short moral tale featuring a simplified narrative, an ironic outcome, and a pointed lesson about human behavior, explicitly drawing on the Aesopic fable tradition.
• Verse Fable — La Fontaine presents the narrative in rhymed verse, combining poetic form with the concise plot and didactic purpose of a fable.
• Didactic Literature — Its central purpose is to instruct readers through the pagan's misguided devotion and the satirical moral that some people or things yield results only under force.
• Satire — The poem mocks irrational religious devotion, transactional worship, greed, and the absurdity of lavishing gifts on an unresponsive wooden idol.

Tags

French fable · verse narrative · Aesopic tradition · seventeenth century · pagan worship · wooden idol · idolatry · prayer and offerings · animal sacrifice · garlanded bullocks · wealth and greed · failed devotion

What this Textopian page supports

The Man and the Wooden God 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, Verse Fable, Didactic Literature, Satire, Moral Allegory
• Length: 349 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Man and the Wooden God by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
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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