The Mountain in Labour by Jean de La Fontaine

A mountain groans as though giving birth, and its clamour draws a crowd expecting a city or at least a house to emerge. Instead, it produces only a mouse. The speaker applies this fable to a writer who grandly announces a war of Titans against the Thunder-king: such resounding promises of greatness may ultimately yield only dearth.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Satire · 204 words

First lines

A mountain was in travail pang; / The country with her clamour rang. / Out ran the people all, to see, / Supposing that the birth would be / A city, or at least a house. / It was a mouse!

In thinking of this fable, / Of story feign'd and false, / But meaning veritable, / My mind the image calls / Of one who writes, "The war I sing / Which Titans waged against the Thunder-king. "[1] / As on the sounding verses ring, / What will be brought to birth? / Why, dearth.[2]

[1]: _The War, &c._ -- The war of the Gods and Titans (sons of Heaven and Earth); _vide_ Hesiod, _Theogony_, I. 1083, Bohn's ed.

[2]: Phaedrus, IV. 22.

• Open reader

Similar titles

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Genres

• Fable — This very short narrative uses an exaggerated incident—a mountain apparently giving birth—to deliver a pointed moral about grand expectations producing trivial results.
• Didactic Literature — Its explicit purpose is instructional: the fable warns readers against inflated promises, bombastic presentation, and disproportionate expectations.
• Satire — La Fontaine satirizes writers and speakers whose lofty claims and thunderous language yield little substantial achievement.
• Allegory — The mountain, the anxious crowd, and the mouse function symbolically, representing exaggerated anticipation followed by a disappointing outcome.

Tags

fable · verse · French literature · seventeenth century · moral allegory · mountain · mouse · labour and birth · crowd expectations · disappointment · anticlimax · exaggeration

What this Textopian page supports

The Mountain in Labour 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, Satire, Allegory, Verse Narrative
• Length: 204 words
• Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Mountain in Labour 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