Same Old Story
The thing about stories which fit into the generic construction of qualifying for being suitable as fabliaux-worthy is that the qualifications are so narrowly defined repetition becomes a problem. These stories were not made for binging, in other words. Pick up a volume, have a chuckle or two, and then set it aside from another day. Too many stories revolve around distressed martial relationship such as the described metaphorical this fashion:
“You’re always looking for deceit, and you’ve locked me up here as in a prison—my face has gone all pale from lack of sun. I never stir from your house, but stay here like a bird in a cage.”
Lady Fair
Always—well, certainly almost always—there is a woman at the center of these stories. And it is certainly not enough that she be plain, much less ugly. Unless, of course, that ugliness is the point of the plot. “William and the Falcon” features what would seem to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but there are so many other women described thusly that she may not even be the most beautiful woman in the village:
“Her hair when she had let it down would seem to one who beheld it to be made all of gold, it was so yellow and so bright. Her forehead was shining and smooth, as though it had been finished by hand.”
Irony
Love is much spoken of in these fables. This makes for great irony since, in reality, there is actually very little evidence of genuine love existing between characters in the tales. Nevertheless, love is situated among the heights of human accomplishment:
“Love is of such worth that once he has taken a man by surprise that man should in no way rebel against him. For, truth to tell, Love has as much right over a king as he has over the poorest man in Champagne or in France, so absolute is his dominion.”
Proverbial Metaphor
Considering the fact that these stories generally lead toward a concluding moral lesson like a fable, it should not be surprising that proverbial, lesson-building metaphors dot the landscape. Such an example occurs in reference to a conclusion-jumping burgher in the story “The Wife of Orleans.”
“Lord! how little he knew what she was thinking and plotting! As they say: the mule driver thinks he knows where he’s going, but the mules have their own idea.”
The Consequences of Cuckoldry
Throughout the fabliaux are husbands and lovers with wives and mistresses who are unfaithful. Cuckoldry runs rampant and many poor saps are left to live with the consequences of being shamed by shameless infidelity. As such, more than the meat cutter could be described thusly:
“The butcher was more at a loss than a sheep in the midst of ten wolves.”
