134:(1558). There the fable is made an example of the practice of alchemists, who are like 'a good woman that was carrying a pot of milk to market and reckoning up her account as follows: she would sell it for half a sou and with that would buy a dozen eggs which she would set to hatch and have from them a dozen chicks; when they were grown she would have them castrated and then they would fetch five sous each, so that'd be at least a crown with which she would buy two piglets, a male and a female, and farrow a dozen more from them once they were grown, and they'd sell for twenty sous a piece after raising, making twelve francs with which she'd buy a mare that would have a fine foal. It would be really nice as it grew up, prancing about and neighing. And so happy was the good woman imagining this that she began to frisk in imitation of her foal, and that made the pot fall and all the milk spill. And down tumbled with it her eggs, her chickens, her capons, her mare and foal, the whole lot.' This has led to the
179:(1761). Titled there "The country maid and her milk pail", it is prefaced with the sentiment that 'when men suffer their imagination to amuse them with the prospect of distant and uncertain improvements of their condition, they frequently sustain real losses by their inattention to those affairs in which they are immediately concerned'. The story is briefly told and ends with the pail being dislodged when the girl scornfully tosses her head in rejection of all the young men at the dance she was to attend, wearing a new dress to be bought with the proceeds of her commercial activities.
190:(1820). As in Bonaventure des PĂ©riers' telling, the bulk of the poem is given over to the long reckoning of prices. It ends with the maid toppling her pail by superciliously tossing her head in rejection of her former humble circumstances. The moral on which Taylor ends his poem is 'Reckon not your chickens before they are hatched', where a later collection has 'Count not...' The proverb fits the story and its lesson so well that one is tempted to speculate that it developed out of some earlier oral version of the fable, but the earliest recorded instance of it is in
303:
279:. It shows the seated milkmaid weeping over her broken pot, which has been converted into a water feature by a channeled feed from a nearby spring. Originally it was called "Girl with a pitcher", but it became so celebrated that it is now better known as "The Milkmaid of Tsarskoye Selo". There is only a copy there today in what has become a public park, while the original is preserved in a St Petersburg museum. In fact several other copies have been made over the years. One was given by the wife of Nicholas I, the princess
31:
198:(1570). The idiom used by La Fontaine in the course of his long conclusion is 'to build castles in Spain', of which he gives a few examples that make it clear that the meaning he intends is 'to dream of the impossible'. Avoiding that may well be what Bonaventure des PĂ©riers intended in telling his story too, but in the English versions the moral to be drawn is that to bring a plan to completion more than dreaming is required.
142:
205:
in the 18th century. It differs little from other retellings, apart from its conclusion. The woman confesses what has happened to her husband, who advises her to live in the here and now and be content with what she has rather than 'building castles in air'. Here he uses the German equivalent of La
86:
as "The brahman who built air-castles". There a man speculates about the wealth that will flow from selling a pot of grain that he has been given, progressing through a series of sales of animals until he has enough to support a wife and family. The child misbehaves, his wife takes no heed, so he
81:
There is a theme common to the many different stories of this type that involves poor persons daydreaming of future wealth arising from a temporary possession. When they get carried away by their fantasy and start acting it out, they break the container on which their dream is founded and find
232:
also depicts a fall in his picture of the fable (1770), although in this case the girl has tumbled forward and the smoke of her dreams spills from the pitcher at the same time as the milk. Other paintings that allude to the fable at the time include
256:, painted his "Perrette" some time before 1890, taking its title from the name that La Fontaine gave his milkmaid. She walks abstractedly through a visionary landscape with the bucket balanced on her head. The Spanish
109:, the story was told as a cautionary fable of a milkmaid who engages in detailed financial calculations of her profits. In a Castilian form it is told under the title "Of what happened to a woman called Truhana" in
119:(1335), illustrating the lesson that you should 'Confine your thoughts to what is real'. In this case it is the jar of honey from which she hopes to enrich herself that Truhana unbalances from her head.
593:
220:
Illustrations of La
Fontaine's fables in books, limited as they are to the dismayed milkmaid looking down at her broken crock, are almost uniformly monotonous. An early exception is
1182:
268:. In the following century, the fable is featured on one of Jean Vernon's (1897–1975) medals from the 1930s, where Perrette stands with a frieze of her lost beasts behind her.
224:'s print in which the girl has fallen on her back (1755), an episode unsanctioned by the text. The explanation for the inelegant posture seems to be that the idiom
271:
The most celebrated statue of this subject is the bronze figure that the
Russian artist Pavel Sokolov (1765–1831) made for the pleasure grounds planned by Tsar
49:-Uther type 1430 about interrupted daydreams of wealth and fame. Ancient tales of this type exist in the East but Western variants are not found before the
712:
785:
948:
808:
260:
y
Bastida painted his "The Milkmaid" in 1890 and portrays a pensive girl seated on a flowering bank with her bucket overturned beside her. In
689:
264:'s painting of 1893 she is seated instead on the steps of a cottage with the pail on the ground in a treatment that has been described as
280:
17:
228:(the broken pitcher) then meant the loss of virginity and so suggests a less innocent explanation of how the milk came to be spilt.
723:
747:
980:
769:
701:
126:(VII.10). The charm of La Fontaine's poetic form apart, however, it differs little from the version recorded in his source,
314:
One of the reasons for the original statue's celebrity as 'the muse of
Tsarskoye Selo' was its connection with the writer
627:
758:
479:
572:
418:
Abbé Léon-Robert Brice, who set it to a traditional melody, adjusting the poem to six-syllable lines to fit the music
1430:
912:
1359:
851:
677:
110:
1079:
206:
Fontaine's idiom. The story has also provided German with another idiomatic phrase, 'milkmaid's reckoning' (
1268:
1084:
1069:
1041:
885:
735:
605:
1445:
1404:
1159:
1089:
202:
797:
1054:
973:
208:
127:
1314:
1223:
1059:
1435:
1188:
1074:
318:, who stayed there in 1831 and had been inspired to write the poem "The statue at Tsarskoye Selo".
229:
1122:
123:
1450:
1127:
1064:
115:
87:
kicks her and in doing so upsets the pot that was to make his fortune. Other variants include
68:. In more recent times, the fable has been variously treated by artists and set by musicians.
1440:
966:
499:
The Book of the
Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by Richard Francis Burton, volume I,
616:
562:
1364:
1349:
272:
253:
246:
191:
105:
8:
1238:
221:
302:
283:, as a birthday gift to her brother Karl in 1827. This was placed in the grounds of his
242:
1339:
1258:
953:
512:
234:
164:
1145:
840:
257:
64:, although it was included in none of the main collections and does not appear in the
1319:
1309:
1110:
568:
421:
392:
315:
171:(1704). The false connection with Aesop was continued by the story's reappearance in
91:'s "The Poorman and the Flask of Oil", "The Barber's Tale of his Fifth Brother" from
642:
564:
The complete fables of Jean de La
Fontaine By Jean de La Fontaine, Norman R. Shapiro
548:
500:
1344:
1152:
666:
532:
284:
149:
167:'s selection of adaptations from La Fontaine, which was published under the title
1425:
1369:
1354:
1329:
1324:
1243:
1049:
402:
183:
92:
1304:
1299:
1263:
1116:
923:
276:
265:
261:
172:
46:
35:
1165:
934:
897:
874:
862:
820:
252:
In the 19th century the story was taken up elsewhere. The
American Symbolist,
1419:
1334:
1248:
1217:
412:
296:
141:
536:
1273:
1139:
990:
288:
83:
445:
1399:
1394:
1374:
1283:
1133:
480:"The Baldwin Project: The Tortoise and the Geese by Maude Barrows Dutton"
65:
50:
1253:
1233:
382:
30:
82:
themselves worse off. One of the earliest is included in the Indian
57:
54:
388:
La
Fontaine's fable has been set by a number of French composers:
1228:
135:
1278:
958:
88:
249:
tapestry based on this was later to be presented to the king.
122:
The story gained lasting popularity after it was included in
61:
639:
Aesop's Fables: A New
Revised Version From Original Sources
53:. It was only in the 18th century that the story about the
746:
The Smith
College Museum of Art catalogue, New York 2000,
95:
and the Jewish story of "The Dervish and the Honey Jar".
299:
in 1998, and still another at Soukhanovo, near Moscow.
163:
In Britain the earliest appearance of the fable was in
381:
The lyric was set for piano and alto voice in 1899 by
291:; it is now replaced by a modern copy and is known as
201:
A version of the fable was written by the German poet
469:, American Oriental Society 1924, vol. 2, book V. 1
1417:
295:. Yet another was erected in the public park of
287:near Berlin but was eventually destroyed during
212:), used of drawing naĂŻve and false conclusions.
138:"Don't count your chick(en)s until they hatch."
653:"Counte not thy Chickens which vnhatched be",
974:
604:The Augustan Society reprint is available on
215:
34:'The fable of the girl and her milk pail' by
643:Fable 30, "The milkmaid and her pot of milk"
103:At its first appearance in the 14th century
981:
967:
655:The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
177:Select fables of Esop and other fabulists
560:
363:For the water pours yet from her vessel.
301:
140:
29:
333:Let it drop on the boulder beneath her.
14:
1418:
962:
446:"Air Castles: Folktales of Type 1430"
182:A different version was versified by
132:Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis
821:"Fountain Milkmaid of Tsarskoe Selo"
415:for piano and voice (Op. 73.3, 1875)
306:A copy of Pavel Sokolov's statue of
98:
245:'s "The little milkmaid" (1760). A
24:
25:
1462:
942:
924:Fables de la Fontaine en chansons
988:
369:Her gaze on this endless spring.
196:New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets
1183:The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma
949:17th–18th century illustrations
928:
917:
902:
890:
879:
867:
856:
845:
834:
813:
802:
790:
780:Kristina Huneault's article in
774:
763:
752:
740:
728:
717:
706:
695:
682:
671:
660:
647:
632:
621:
610:
598:
587:
554:
542:
526:
505:
493:
472:
459:
438:
385:and is still performed today.
76:
71:
13:
1:
909:Fables de Jean de la Fontaine
432:
360:But see! What marvel is this?
339:Uselessly holding the pieces.
153:
1085:The Brahmin and the Mongoose
1070:The Mouse Turned into a Maid
1026:The Moral Philosophy of Doni
7:
1160:One Thousand and One Nights
1022:The Fables of Bidpai/Pilpay
913:International Music Library
886:International Music Library
782:Dictionary of Women Artists
424:in the children's operetta
310:in the park of Britz Castle
203:Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim
10:
1467:
1080:The Ass in the Lion's Skin
1055:The Tortoise and the Birds
954:Two prints by Gustave Doré
809:A website is devoted to it
734:See the sale notes on the
667:Fabel IV.1 "Die Milchfrau"
561:Fontaine, Jean La (2010).
533:On the migration of fables
467:Panchatantra Reconstructed
366:There she continues today,
330:One day a girl with an urn
216:Artistic uses of the fable
60:began to be attributed to
1387:
1315:Edward Backhouse Eastwick
1292:
1210:
1199:
1174:
1103:
1095:The milkmaid and her pail
1060:The Bear and the Gardener
1040:
998:
426:La Fontaine et le Corbeau
407:Six Fables de La Fontaine
336:Sadly she sits and alone,
308:The girl with the pitcher
186:as "The Milkmaid" in his
43:The Milkmaid and Her Pail
18:The Milkmaid and Her Pail
1075:The Deer without a Heart
935:A performance on YouTube
713:Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris
702:Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris
128:Bonaventure des PĂ©riers
1269:Abu'l-Ma'ali Nasrallah
1224:Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
1128:Hikayat Panca Tanderan
1065:The Lion and the Mouse
863:Performance on YouTube
796:Illustrated online at
515:. Pitt.edu. 2009-07-06
448:. Pitt.edu. 2013-03-19
311:
160:
116:Tales of Count Lucanor
39:
1018:The Lights of Canopus
759:World Classic Gallery
617:Fable XIII, pp. 80–81
395:as the fourth of his
305:
230:Jean-Honoré Fragonard
144:
33:
1431:La Fontaine's Fables
1123:La Fontaine's Fables
798:Creighton University
688:See the analysis of
281:Charlotte of Prussia
273:Nicholas I of Russia
254:Albert Pinkham Ryder
209:Milchmädchenrechnung
124:La Fontaine's Fables
106:Dialogus creaturarum
1239:Jean de La Fontaine
1090:The Fox and the Cat
465:Franklin Edgerton,
405:, the first of his
237:'s "The milkmaid" (
222:Jean-Baptiste Oudry
1446:Indian fairy tales
1340:Ion Keith-Falconer
911:(Lacombe, Louis),
312:
235:Jean-Baptiste Huet
165:Bernard Mandeville
161:
146:The Merry Milkmaid
40:
1413:
1412:
1383:
1382:
1360:Silvestre de Sacy
1320:Franklin Edgerton
1310:Hermann Brockhaus
1220:(putative author)
1034:Nandaka-prakarana
873:A performance on
841:Details in German
770:British Paintings
422:Isabelle Aboulker
393:Jacques Offenbach
316:Alexander Pushkin
275:at his palace of
99:The Western fable
45:is a folktale of
16:(Redirected from
1458:
1345:Patrick Olivelle
1208:
1207:
1153:Kathasaritsagara
1030:Tantri Kamandaka
983:
976:
969:
960:
959:
937:
932:
926:
921:
915:
906:
900:
894:
888:
883:
877:
871:
865:
860:
854:
849:
843:
838:
832:
831:
829:
828:
817:
811:
806:
800:
794:
788:
778:
772:
767:
761:
756:
750:
744:
738:
732:
726:
721:
715:
710:
704:
699:
693:
690:Greuze's picture
686:
680:
675:
669:
664:
658:
651:
645:
636:
630:
625:
619:
614:
608:
602:
596:
591:
585:
584:
582:
581:
558:
552:
546:
540:
530:
524:
523:
521:
520:
513:"The Broken Pot"
509:
503:
497:
491:
490:
488:
487:
482:. Mainlesson.com
476:
470:
463:
457:
456:
454:
453:
442:
285:Glienicke Palace
243:François Boucher
158:
155:
150:Marcellus Laroon
21:
1466:
1465:
1461:
1460:
1459:
1457:
1456:
1455:
1436:Indian folklore
1416:
1415:
1414:
1409:
1379:
1370:Charles Wilkins
1355:Arthur W. Ryder
1330:Johannes Hertel
1325:A. N. D. Haksar
1288:
1259:Ibn al-Muqaffa'
1244:Antoine Galland
1203:
1201:
1195:
1170:
1146:Kalīla wa-Dimna
1099:
1050:The Blue Jackal
1036:
1010:Kalila wa Dimna
994:
987:
945:
940:
933:
929:
922:
918:
907:
903:
896:Performance on
895:
891:
884:
880:
872:
868:
861:
857:
850:
846:
839:
835:
826:
824:
819:
818:
814:
807:
803:
795:
791:
784:, Chicago 1997,
779:
775:
768:
764:
757:
753:
745:
741:
733:
729:
722:
718:
711:
707:
700:
696:
687:
683:
676:
672:
665:
661:
652:
648:
641:, London 1884,
637:
633:
626:
622:
615:
611:
603:
599:
592:
588:
579:
577:
575:
559:
555:
547:
543:
535:; monograph by
531:
527:
518:
516:
511:
510:
506:
498:
494:
485:
483:
478:
477:
473:
464:
460:
451:
449:
444:
443:
439:
435:
409:(Op. 17 1872/9)
403:Benjamin Godard
258:JoaquĂn Sorolla
226:la cruche casée
218:
184:Jefferys Taylor
156:
111:Don Juan Manuel
101:
93:The 1001 Nights
79:
74:
28:
23:
22:
15:
12:
11:
5:
1464:
1454:
1453:
1448:
1443:
1438:
1433:
1428:
1411:
1410:
1408:
1407:
1402:
1397:
1391:
1389:
1385:
1384:
1381:
1380:
1378:
1377:
1372:
1367:
1362:
1357:
1352:
1347:
1342:
1337:
1332:
1327:
1322:
1317:
1312:
1307:
1305:Gustav Bickell
1302:
1300:Theodor Benfey
1296:
1294:
1290:
1289:
1287:
1286:
1281:
1276:
1271:
1266:
1261:
1256:
1251:
1246:
1241:
1236:
1231:
1226:
1221:
1214:
1212:
1205:
1197:
1196:
1194:
1193:
1186:
1178:
1176:
1172:
1171:
1169:
1168:
1163:
1156:
1149:
1142:
1137:
1130:
1125:
1120:
1117:Calila e Dimna
1113:
1111:Aesop's Fables
1107:
1105:
1101:
1100:
1098:
1097:
1092:
1087:
1082:
1077:
1072:
1067:
1062:
1057:
1052:
1046:
1044:
1038:
1037:
1014:Calila e Dimna
1002:Tantrakhyayika
999:
996:
995:
986:
985:
978:
971:
963:
957:
956:
951:
944:
943:External links
941:
939:
938:
927:
916:
901:
889:
878:
866:
855:
844:
833:
812:
801:
789:
773:
762:
751:
739:
736:Christies site
727:
724:Christies site
716:
705:
694:
681:
670:
659:
646:
631:
620:
609:
597:
594:The 12th story
586:
573:
553:
541:
525:
504:
501:online version
492:
471:
458:
436:
434:
431:
430:
429:
419:
416:
410:
400:
379:
378:
377:
376:
375:
374:
373:
372:
371:
370:
367:
364:
361:
349:
348:
347:
346:
345:
344:
343:
342:
341:
340:
337:
334:
331:
277:Tsarskoye Selo
266:Pre-Raphaelite
262:Kate Greenaway
217:
214:
188:Aesop in Rhyme
173:Robert Dodsley
100:
97:
78:
75:
73:
70:
47:Aarne-Thompson
36:Kate Greenaway
26:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1463:
1452:
1451:ATU 1350-1439
1449:
1447:
1444:
1442:
1439:
1437:
1434:
1432:
1429:
1427:
1424:
1423:
1421:
1406:
1403:
1401:
1398:
1396:
1393:
1392:
1390:
1386:
1376:
1373:
1371:
1368:
1366:
1363:
1361:
1358:
1356:
1353:
1351:
1348:
1346:
1343:
1341:
1338:
1336:
1335:Joseph Jacobs
1333:
1331:
1328:
1326:
1323:
1321:
1318:
1316:
1313:
1311:
1308:
1306:
1303:
1301:
1298:
1297:
1295:
1291:
1285:
1282:
1280:
1277:
1275:
1272:
1270:
1267:
1265:
1262:
1260:
1257:
1255:
1252:
1250:
1249:John of Capua
1247:
1245:
1242:
1240:
1237:
1235:
1232:
1230:
1227:
1225:
1222:
1219:
1218:Vishnu Sharma
1216:
1215:
1213:
1209:
1206:
1198:
1192:
1191:
1187:
1185:
1184:
1180:
1179:
1177:
1173:
1167:
1164:
1162:
1161:
1157:
1155:
1154:
1150:
1148:
1147:
1143:
1141:
1138:
1136:
1135:
1131:
1129:
1126:
1124:
1121:
1119:
1118:
1114:
1112:
1109:
1108:
1106:
1104:Related works
1102:
1096:
1093:
1091:
1088:
1086:
1083:
1081:
1078:
1076:
1073:
1071:
1068:
1066:
1063:
1061:
1058:
1056:
1053:
1051:
1048:
1047:
1045:
1043:
1039:
1035:
1031:
1027:
1023:
1019:
1015:
1011:
1007:
1003:
997:
993:
992:
984:
979:
977:
972:
970:
965:
964:
961:
955:
952:
950:
947:
946:
936:
931:
925:
920:
914:
910:
905:
899:
893:
887:
882:
876:
870:
864:
859:
853:
848:
842:
837:
822:
816:
810:
805:
799:
793:
787:
783:
777:
771:
766:
760:
755:
749:
743:
737:
731:
725:
720:
714:
709:
703:
698:
692:of that title
691:
685:
679:
674:
668:
663:
656:
650:
644:
640:
635:
629:
624:
618:
613:
607:
601:
595:
590:
576:
574:9780252091674
570:
566:
565:
557:
550:
545:
538:
534:
529:
514:
508:
502:
496:
481:
475:
468:
462:
447:
441:
437:
427:
423:
420:
417:
414:
413:Louis Lacombe
411:
408:
404:
401:
398:
394:
391:
390:
389:
386:
384:
368:
365:
362:
359:
358:
357:
356:
355:
354:
353:
352:
351:
350:
338:
335:
332:
329:
328:
327:
326:
325:
324:
323:
322:
321:
320:
319:
317:
309:
304:
300:
298:
297:Schloss Britz
294:
293:Die Milchfrau
290:
286:
282:
278:
274:
269:
267:
263:
259:
255:
250:
248:
244:
240:
236:
231:
227:
223:
213:
211:
210:
204:
199:
197:
193:
192:Thomas Howell
189:
185:
180:
178:
174:
170:
169:Aesop dress'd
166:
151:
147:
143:
139:
137:
133:
129:
125:
120:
118:
117:
112:
108:
107:
96:
94:
90:
85:
69:
67:
63:
59:
56:
52:
48:
44:
37:
32:
19:
1441:Panchatantra
1365:C. H. Tawney
1350:N. M. Penzer
1274:Thomas North
1202:translators,
1190:Jungle Tales
1189:
1181:
1158:
1151:
1144:
1140:Jataka tales
1132:
1115:
1094:
1033:
1029:
1025:
1021:
1017:
1013:
1009:
1006:Panchakhyana
1005:
1001:
991:Panchatantra
989:
930:
919:
908:
904:
892:
881:
869:
858:
847:
836:
825:. Retrieved
815:
804:
792:
781:
776:
765:
754:
742:
730:
719:
708:
697:
684:
673:
662:
654:
649:
638:
634:
623:
612:
600:
589:
578:. Retrieved
563:
556:
544:
528:
517:. Retrieved
507:
495:
484:. Retrieved
474:
466:
461:
450:. Retrieved
440:
425:
406:
396:
387:
380:
313:
307:
292:
289:World War II
270:
251:
241:, 1769) and
238:
225:
219:
207:
200:
195:
187:
181:
176:
168:
162:
145:
131:
121:
114:
104:
102:
84:Panchatantra
80:
42:
41:
1400:Frame story
1395:Beast fable
1375:Ramsay Wood
1284:Simeon Seth
1175:Other media
1166:Ĺšukasaptati
1134:Hitopadesha
678:View online
239:La Laitière
157: 1688
77:In the East
72:The stories
66:Perry Index
55:daydreaming
51:Middle Ages
1420:Categories
1254:Kshemendra
1234:Durgasimha
827:2010-09-08
580:2010-09-08
549:Chapter 28
537:Max MĂĽller
519:2010-09-08
486:2010-09-08
452:2013-11-03
433:References
628:pp. 55–56
606:Gutenberg
383:Cesar Cui
27:Folk tale
1264:Narayana
1204:adapters
1200:Editors,
898:You Tube
852:Op 57.17
823:. Nlr.ru
748:pp.214-5
397:6 Fables
247:Gobelins
148:, after
58:milkmaid
1229:Borzuya
1042:Stories
875:YouTube
657:(p. 65)
136:proverb
1426:Fables
1388:Topics
1293:Modern
1279:Rudaki
786:p. 611
571:
539:, 1881
428:(1999)
399:(1842)
89:Bidpai
38:, 1893
1405:Katha
1211:Early
1000:aka:
62:Aesop
569:ISBN
194:'s
175:'s
113:'s
1422::
1032:—
1028:—
1024:—
1020:—
1016:-
1012:—
1008:—
1004:—
567:.
154:c.
130:'
982:e
975:t
968:v
830:.
583:.
551:.
522:.
489:.
455:.
159:)
152:(
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
