Amsterdam

"L'Amour Magot." L'Amour Magot: Histoire Merveilleuse. Les Tisons. Et Lettres Écrites Des Campagnes Infernales. Aux dépens de la Compagnie, Londres [i.e. Amsterdam?], 1738, pp. 1-54.

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 19:50:53 +0000

"L'Amour Magot." L'Amour Magot: Histoire Merveilleuse. Les Tisons. Et Lettres Écrites Des Campagnes Infernales. Aux dépens de la Compagnie, Londres [i.e. Amsterdam?], 1738, pp. 1-54. Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/28/2022 - 13:50

Tale Summary

A beautiful and charming nymph (designating a young lady of rank) relaxes in a grove, singing a song about being young and yearning for love when in response she hears a voice promising to return her love. She searches for the voice but finds no one. Intrigued, she returns often to the grove to speak with the disembodied voice, which she believes may be a lutin. The voice responds with a rhyme explaining his negative qualities (he is hideous and blamable) along with his positive ones (he is sociable and capable), which complicates the girl's sentiments.

She is burning with a secret and joyless passion and falls ill with a desire to see the object of her love. She is on the verge of death from sadness and proclaims her need to see him in person. She feels an invisible force moving about on her bed, and opens her eyes to see a giant hideous wrinkled monkey. He had been using a magic ring, given to him by the fairy Biscaroux, that turned him invisible. She is horrified by him, and he leaves her. She goes to a magic woman (alternately called a Circé, a fée, a Sibile, a Duègne, a Matrone, and a ministre d'Hécate) to heal her sadness, and the woman utters a spell in Latin from an enchanted book, and the girl is transformed into a Guenon (a female monkey).

Meanwhile, the Magot (large male monkey, and colloquialism for an ugly or malformed man) is wandering the countryside, and prays to the god of Love, asking for a way to reunite with her, or to die. The god of Love appears one dark stormy night and informs him of her transformation.

It is too late though, as she has been captured and sold to a woman as a pet. This governess names her Guenuche and gives her a ribbon ornamented with pearls to wear as a necklace, and brings her to the islands of America. Guenuche becomes very ill at being taken so far away from Magot. Two years pass, and they return. Magot has been living in the forest and evading a man and his dogs with his ring of invisibility when one day while sleeping he is taken by one of the governess's slaves. This is a happy turn of fate, as he is reunited with Guenuche. After just one night, the governess decides she is tired of the old monkey Guenuche and sells her to a sailor. Luckily, Magot, riding in the canoe of a slave returning to his master, is able to reunite with Guenuche on the boat. After a lovely time together, a massive storm hits, and they find themselves on an island, where they are watched by a troupe of monkeys. The head monkey recognizes Magot as their king and asks if he would lead them in a war against Mirmidonnet, the king of the Pygmies, who is trying to take over the island.

General Magot agrees. The war with the Pygmies is bloody, and in the end, all of the monkeys are either killed or taken captive, but just at the end of the battle, Mirmidonnet takes a grenade blast that ultimately kills him. The fairy Biscaroux comes to Magot and tells him that he shall be king of the Pygmies and of Monkey Island, and turns him, his princess Guenuche, and all the captive monkeys into Pygmies.

After a solemn coronation, king Magottin and his princess marry and briefly experience a beautiful life together, until she dies giving birth to their first child. He succumbs to grief shortly thereafter, and they are buried together with a tombstone that reads Here Lies Monkey Love (Ici gît l'Amour Magot).

Fairy Tale Title

L'Amour Magot

Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)

None listed

Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)

None listed

Common Tale Type

Tale Classification

Page Range of Tale

pp. 1-54

Full Citation of Tale

"L'Amour Magot." L'Amour Magot: Histoire Merveilleuse. Les Tisons. Et Lettres Écrites Des Campagnes Infernales. Aux dépens de la Compagnie, Londres [i.e. Amsterdam?], 1738, pp. 1-54.

Original Source of the Tale

Tale Notes

From the catalog entry: Fictitious imprint. Printed in Holland. Cf. Weller. Die falschen und fingirten Druckorte. II, page 102. Possibly printed in Holland.
Several Roman and Greek Gods are present: le Dieu de Cythère (blindfolded by the ancients, suggesting the blindness of love); Cupid, Circé, Cibelle (perhaps a reference to Cybele), Hécate, Hébé (with a footnote clarifying that she is the Goddess of Youth). The storyteller mentions the story of Dido and Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid. The magic woman the girl visits speaks a Latin spell from a book called the Eclogue Enchanteresse, perhaps another reference to Virgil. The storyteller uses the word magotter as a verb, perhaps an adapted word deriving from the Magot and his Magotte, and playfully meaning to monkey around together. The Islands of America are called uncultured, unknown places filled with monsters. The storyteller mentions slaves in America, and slaves are brought back with the Governor and Governess. The fairy Biscaroux (perhaps another literary reference) gave Magot his magic ring. The girl considers that her lover may be a lutin (imp or hobgoblin), suggesting that invisibility, or some magic article granting invisibility, may be an aspect of the lutin in general. The happy and sad moments of the story of the lovers are attributed to the changeability of Fate. The story's humor includes the juxtaposition of low-brow and high-brow elements. Poetry, songs, rhymes, and Latin verses are interspersed in the story. There is a word chart illustrating Magot's self-deprecating rhymes.

AV��ʪ and Curation

Anonymous, 2020

Book Title

Histoire merveilleuse. Les tisons. Et lettres écrites des campagnes infernales

Book Author/Editor(s)

None listed

Illustrator(s)

None listed

Publisher

Aux dépens de la Compagnie

Date Published

1738

Decade Published

1730-1739

Publisher City

London (fictitious imprint), possibly Amsterdam

Publisher Country

Possibly printed in Amsterdam.

Language

French

Rights

Public Domain

Digital Copy

Available at Gale Primary Sources

Book Notes

Traditional

White

Perrault, Charles. "Le maitre chat, ou le chat botté." Histoires, ou, Contes du temps passé, Amsterdam, Jacques Desbordes, 1700, pp. 63-80.

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 17:55:59 +0000

Perrault, Charles. "Le maitre chat, ou le chat botté." Histoires, ou, Contes du temps passé, Amsterdam, Jacques Desbordes, 1700, pp. 63-80. Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/25/2021 - 11:55

Charles Perrault

Tale Summary

A miller dies and leaves all he has to his three sons. The third and youngest is willed only a cat, to his dismay. He complains out loud that once he has eaten the cat and made a muff of its skin, he will have nothing left. The cat, who has overheard, asks for a bag and some boots and tells his master not to worry.

The cat uses the bag to catch a rabbit, and takes it to the King, offering it on behalf of Monsieur le Marquis de Carabas, a name he has invented for his master. The king is thankful. The cat repeats the action several times over two or three months. One day the cat knows the King is taking a ride with his daughter, so he has his master bathe in the river along the route, then hides all of his master's clothing under a rock. When he sees the King approaching, he cries for help, explaining that the Marquis is drowning and that someone has stolen his clothing. The King has his guards save the would-be Marquis, and fetch him a fine outfit to wear. When the well-dressed Marquis enters the carriage, the King's daughter falls in love with him.

As they ride, the cat proceeds ahead and threatens those working in the field to say that the lands belong to the Marquis de Carabas, or he will chop them into mincemeat. When the King's carriage comes along, they follow the orders of the cat. The cat repeats the ruse with the harvesters in the next field, and with all those he meets, and all do as ordered. The king is impressed with the vast holdings of the Marquis de Carabas.

The cat gets to a great castle where an ogre lives, the true master of the lands they have passed through. He tricks the ogre into turning himself into a mouse and then eats him. When the King arrives at the castle, he is so thoroughly impressed with the Marquis that he gives him the hand of his daughter. They are married that day, and from then on the cat, now living a comfortable life, only chase mice for fun.

Fairy Tale Title

Le maitre chat, ou le chat botté

Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)

Charles Perrault

Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)

None listed

Common Tale Type

Puss in Boots

Tale Classification

ATU 545B

Page Range of Tale

pp. 63-80

Full Citation of Tale

Perrault, Charles. "Le maitre chat, ou le chat botté." Histoires, ou, Contes du temps passé, Amsterdam, Jacques Desbordes, 1700, pp. 63-80.

Original Source of the Tale

Tale Notes

The moral of the story is written in verse following the tale. It states that, though a rich heritage is a great advantage, the industry and know-how of ordinary people is worth more. A second moral is given that fine clothing, youth and a handsome face are valuable to inspire tenderness.

AV��ʪ and Curation

Sara Fischer, 2020

Book Title

Histoires, ou, Contes du temps passé

Book Author/Editor(s)

Charles Perrault

Illustrator(s)

None listed

Publisher

Jacque Desbordes

Date Published

1700

Decade Published

1700-1709

Publisher City

Amsterdam

Publisher Country

Netherlands

Language

French

Rights

Public Domain

Digital Copy

Book Notes

None

Traditional

White