The will Explained by Aesop

Name: The will Explained by Aesop
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

In “The Will Explained by Aesop,” a father leaves his estate in equal shares to his three very different daughters, but stipulates that each daughter’s portion is to be paid to their mother once the daughter no longer possesses it. One daughter loves drink, another is a coquettish spender, and the third is miserly. After the father dies, the daughters and legal men cannot understand how daughters without their property could pay it to their mother. The legal advisers settle the widow’s claim by assigning her a third of each daughter’s share, unless she prefers a life annuity. They then divide the estate into three portions: one contains wine, feasting equipment, rich furnishings, and servants; another contains a city house, elegant furniture, eunuchs, milliners, jewels, shawls, and costly dresses; the last contains farms, fences, flocks, fodder, and labourers and animals. Rather than draw lots, the sisters choose the portions they prefer, and the people of Athens approve the judgment. Aesop condemns this interpretation as contrary to the father’s true intention. He distributes the portions in the least desirable way for each daughter: the coquette receives the drinking goods, the drinker receives the farms and cattle, and the miser receives the fine robes and lace. He reasons that each woman will quickly sell her unsuitable inheritance, marry with the proceeds as a dowry, and thereby transfer all the father’s goods intact to their mother. The people marvel that Aesop, whom they had regarded as a slave and a fool, shows greater understanding than their celebrated men.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Narrative Poetry · 1,178 words

First lines

If what old story says of Aesop's true, / The oracle of Greece he was, / And more than Areopagus[1] he knew, / With all its wisdom in the laws. / The following tale gives but a sample / Of what has made his fame so ample. / Three daughters shared a father's purse, / Of habits totally diverse. / The first, bewitched with drinks delicious; / The next, coquettish and capricious; / The third, supremely avaricious. / The sire, expectant of his fate, / Bequeathed his whole estate, / In equal shares, to them, / And to their mother just the same, -- / To her then payable, and not before, / Each daughter should possess her part no more. / The father died. The females three / Were much in haste the will to see. / They read, and read, but still / Saw not the willer's will. / For could it well be understood / That each of this sweet sisterhood, / When she possess'd her part no more, / Should to her mother pay it o'er? / 'Twas surely not so easy saying / How lack of means would help the paying. / What meant their honour'd father, then? / Th' affair was brought to legal men, / Who, after turning o'er the case / Some hundred thousand different ways, / Threw down the learned bonnet, / Unable to decide upon it; / And then advised the heirs, / Without more thought, t' adjust affairs. / As to the widow's share, the counsel say, / 'We hold it just the daughters each should pay / One third to her upon demand, / Should she not choose to have it stand / Commuted as a life annuity, / Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity. ' / The thing thus order'd, the estate / Is duly cut in portions three. / And in the first they all agree / To put the feasting-lodges, plate, / Luxurious cooling mugs, / Enormous liquor jugs, / Rich cupboards, -- built beneath the trellised vine, -- / The stores of ancient, sweet Malvoisian wine, / The slaves to serve it at a sign; / In short, whatever, in a great house, / There is of feasting apparatus. / The second part is made / Of what might help the jilting trade -- / The city house and furniture, / Exquisite and genteel, be sure, / The eunuchs, milliners, and laces, / The jewels, shawls, and costly dresses. / The third is made of household stuff, / More vulgar, rude, and rough -- / Farms, fences, flocks, and fodder, / And men and beasts to turn the sod o'er. / This done, since it was thought / To give the parts by lot / Might suit, or it might not, / Each paid her share of fees dear, / And took the part that pleased her. / 'Twas in great Athens town, / Such judgment gave the gown. / And there the public voice / Applauded both the judgment and the choice. / But Aesop well was satisfied / The learned men had set aside, / In judging thus the testament, / The very gist of its intent. / 'The dead,' quoth he, 'could he but know of it, / Would heap reproaches on such Attic wit. / What! men who proudly take their place / As sages of the human race, / Lack they the simple skill / To settle such a will? ' / This said, he undertook himself / The task of portioning the pelf; / And straightway gave each maid the part / The least according to her heart -- / The prim coquette, the drinking stuff, / The drinker, then, the farms and cattle; / And on the miser, rude and rough, / The robes and lace did Aesop settle; / For thus, he said, 'an early date / Would see the sisters alienate / Their several shares of the estate. / No motive now in maidenhood to tarry, / They all would seek, post haste, to marry; / And, having each a splendid bait, / Each soon would find a well-bred mate; / And, leaving thus their father's goods intact, / Would to their mother pay them all, in fact,' -- / Which of the testament / Was plainly the intent. / The people, who had thought a slave an ass, / Much wonder'd how it came to pass / That one alone should have more sense / Than all their men of most pretence.[2]

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Genres

Fable — The poem presents a compact exemplary tale centered on Aesop, resolving a practical dispute through clever reasoning and ending with an implicit moral about wisdom, appearances, and legal pretension.
Didactic Poetry — Written in verse, the work aims to instruct readers by demonstrating how the testator's intent can be understood through knowledge of human motives.
Narrative Poetry — It tells a complete story in poetic form, with characters, a contested will, escalating legal confusion, Aesop's intervention, and a final resolution.
Moral Tale — The narrative contrasts genuine practical intelligence with the ostentatious learning of legal authorities and social elites.

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The will Explained by Aesop is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Moral Tale, Satire
Length: 1,178 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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