Talk:Fabliau

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[edit] More examples?

I'm studying the fabliaux right now in graduate school, and I'm going to work on expanding this article. I would also be more than happy to include more examples on the page if people think it would help define the genre better. I don't think that any of these stories merit their own pages because they can be summarized in a paragraph, like that of "The Snow Baby." Thoughts? If I don't hear back, I'll more than likely add them anyway, and people can remove them if/when they find it not useful.Portia1780 18:33, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] bawdy fabliau

I'm guessing that the last tale under "Example tales"- "Le Chevalier qui fist les cons parler ("The Knight who made vaginas speak") is a joke. Surely no tale of that name was performed in public hundreds of years ago! You could put it back, or put a proper translation, if I'm wrong. anon 04:38, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

It's real. -- Stbalbach 02:24, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

The word "con" is a french slang for "idiot". It doesn't mean vagina in this sentance.

24.09.07 It does actually mean vagina. The fabliau is about a knight who has the power to make vaginas speak. Many of the fabliaux were highly obscene by today's standards.

My understanding is that cons is used as a pun here. Cons means both stories and cunts, so the title could either read as The knight who told stories or The knight who made cunts speak. Personally, were I releasing an English translation I would call it something like The raccunteur or even The knight who cunjured voices as there is no straight translation which conveys the spirit of the original. I think that The knight who made cunts speak should appear here as it is a reasonably straight translation of one of the meanings of the title. I have edited it to this from The man who made cunts and assholes speak, because even though the knight in the story could make assholes speak (if the cunt had been plugged somehow) it is not implied in the original title. I think I may re-read the story and give a synopsis given how much interest this has generated. Conrad Leviston 16:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

For another example of this theme in the Middle Ages, see the lai Lecheor.Portia1780 18:27, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

The link is now referenced for my preferred translation ("cons" = "cunts", not "cunts and assholes", see my reasoning above). I discovered that the item was already referenced for the C&A translation Online translation, but it was located in the wrong part of the text, and so was not immediately obvious as to what it was referencing. At any rate, it clearly does not mean idiot in the context of this story! Conrad Leviston (talk) 15:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)