In this brilliant and startling collection, Tom La Farge revises and rethinks many traditional plots and characteristics of the fable, concentrating on the French fabliaux, whose medieval practitioners were, in their turn, inspired by the tales of ancient times.

Lovers of literature will discover in La Farge's remarkable work a host of radical, occasionally shocking, yet unfailingly poetic renderings of familiar favorites such as "The Fox and the Crow," "The Wolf and the Lamb," and "The Matron of Ephesus," among others. Stories such as "The Image Breaker" and "Marion and Alison" recast classic sexual themes with appropriately erotic language for 1990s readers.

Longer pieces, notably "The Innocents," and "The Dead Come Back to Life" are soaring flights of complex imagery. La Farge's woundrously creative powers are well known to his many readers of the two-part fantasy novel, The Crimson Bears (The Crimson Bears and A Hundred Doors), both published by Sun & Moon Press. But even his warmest admirers will respond with awe to the heightened dimensions of the literary gifts displayed in this landmark collection.