The Women and the Secret by Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine’s poem shows how a supposed secret swiftly becomes an absurd public rumour. A husband, wishing to test his young wife, pretends in the night that he has laid an egg. He shows her the fresh egg and begs her to tell no one, fearing that men will mock him and call him a hen. Though she solemnly promises silence, she cannot keep the secret even until morning. She visits a neighbour and, while demanding secrecy, reports that her husband has laid an egg as large as four. The neighbour promises not to betray her confidence but immediately feels compelled to spread the news. Before tea, she has told the story in twenty places, changing the number from one egg to three. Another gossip makes it four, and each further retelling enlarges the tale. By sunset, Fame has carried the report so widely that the husband is said to have laid a hundred eggs.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Satire · 562 words

First lines

There's nothing like a secret weighs; / Too heavy 'tis for women tender; / And, for this matter, in my days, / I've seen some men of female gender.

• Open reader

Similar titles

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Genres

• Fable — The poem presents a brief, comic narrative designed to convey a moral lesson about secrecy, gossip, and the distortion of information.
• Didactic Poetry — Its primary purpose is instructive: it warns readers of the consequences of trusting others with a secret.
• Satire — La Fontaine humorously mocks gullibility, gossip, social indiscretion, and the tendency for rumours to grow through repetition.
• Comic Poetry — The absurd claim that a husband has laid an egg, along with the escalating number of eggs, creates broad comic exaggeration.

Tags

French fable · seventeenth-century literature · verse narrative · comic satire · gossip · secrets · rumour · exaggeration · public scandal · female gossip stereotype · marital trickery · husband and wife

What this Textopian page supports

The Women and the Secret is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 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: 1678 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Satire, Comic Poetry, Narrative Poetry
• Length: 562 words
• Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Women and the Secret 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