Thanks to his commitment to diversity, the fables included in this volume are not only Jean de La Fontaine's most famous, but they also retain the full diversity of the two collections published in 1668 and 1678. The small universe the fabulist brings to life for us is, therefore, a "comedy with a hundred different scenes whose stage is the universe." Although he has many animals play many roles, he paints them not for their own sake, but for the reflection they can offer us of ourselves; like his contemporaries, nature is important to him only when it reflects our own human nature. He exposes our vices, criticizes our foolishness and cruelty, and his view of humanity remains pessimistic and bitter. Nevertheless, his stories continue to captivate us uniquely because La Fontaine has imbued them with elements of pleasure. These reveries, in which his mind delights, form a work that testifies to both virtuoso poetry and wisdom. In this re-creation of the world André Gide saw “a miracle of culture”: it remains today a miracle of fantasy, a captivating transformation of reality.