"Beranger the Puffy-Backed" [1] [2] [3] ( fr. De Bérangier au lonc cul ) - a medieval French work of literature in the genre of fablio . There are two versions of fablio: one is written by Guerin, the other is anonymous. It dates from the beginning or the first half of the XIII century [4] . For the first time in Russian, it was translated by Yu. M. Denisov in 1991 under the title “Berezhye Pyshnozadiy” [2] .
Story
And then she got off the saddle,
Higher dress pulled up
And a gap opened before him,
How to see it before
He could only have his own wife,
Yes backside of fair width
Which, in that bail God,
He could see her.
Ele descent, vers lui s'en va,
Sa robe contre mont leva
Si s'estupa devant sa face,
Et cil regarde la crevace.
Du cul et du con li resemble
Que trestot li tenist ensemble;
A lui meïsme pense et dit
Que onques si lonc cul ne vit.
The rich count gives his daughter off as a “young peasant ” and makes him a knight . This knight does not abide by the customs of chivalry and spends idle time during the first ten years of marriage. When his wife, tired of his shameful behavior and laziness, spoke of the greatness of the knights of his family, the husband decided to prove that he was also a worthy knight. He wears armor and drives astride the forest. Once in the forest, he hangs his shield on the lower bitch and hits him, until he takes the form of having been in many battles. Returning to his wife, the knight shows her his rumpled armor and boasts of his victories. After several such trips, the wife wonders why the knight himself remained unharmed when his armor is damaged. The next day, she offers him to take servants with her. When he refuses, the mistress puts on a body-covering armor and follows him into the forest. Seeing how in a rage he cuts his own shield, she appears in front of him and threatens to kill him for his shame of chivalry. A knight does not recognize his wife by voice; he asks for mercy and offers to do anything to just leave alive. His wife, pretending to be a powerful knight, offers him a choice: to fight with himself and inevitably die, or to kiss "him" in the ass. From cowardice, the knight chooses to kiss on the ass. "He" lowers his pants; the knight, instead of recognizing the female genitalia , is amazed at what a huge anus he sees in front of him. He asks the “knight" for a name; “He” replies that “his” name is Bérangier au Lonc-Cul (Beranger Pysnozadiy), and “he” shames all cowards. Returning home, the knight catches his wife with another man. He tries to be indignant, but she tells him to shut up - she can do what she likes, because Beranzhye the Bold-backed will protect her from all his accusations.
Gender Morality
The initial antagonistic behavior of the husband leads to the gender moral of the story: constantly humiliating a smart wife can be dangerous [6] . To find out about the husband’s affairs, the wife takes the form of a knight named “Berangier au lonc cul” [Beranger Big Ass]. When she, following her husband into the forest, catches him with a stupid occupation, "the roles turn over" [7] . If at first a woman for ten years suffered her husband’s worthlessness, bearing with boisterous anger and embarrassment his boasts and attacks, then after she saw in the forest the “absolute farcical nature ” of his claims, this spectacle inspired her to become a “tough driving force that not only teaches a lesson to him, but it will also destroy his position as a leader in the family ” [7] . When meeting with his wife, posing as a valiant knight, the husband involuntarily shows his cowardice and, out of fear, prays for mercy. His wife gives him an ultimatum: “jostez” [fight] and inevitably die or “vos me venroiz el cul baisier” [kiss my ass] [7] . Unaware of the painful consequences of his decision, he, when he refuses to fight the “knight,” gives up his married power to his wife, thus reversing his position of strength. In addition, he shows ignorance by not recognizing her genitals; he only notes that the knight is “au lonc cul” [with a long ass]. His ignorant inability to recognize the female genital organs is exploited in such a way [8] that the wife, the narrator and the audience together rejoice that she will deceive her husband, and he will never know [6] . The story “[teaches] a common lesson about the right gender roles in marriage” [6] , which suggests that humiliation by a husband’s wife is not a “proper” thing. Thus, the inversion of gender roles in this story creates its gender morality.
Difference in text versions
The first version is preserved in two manuscripts of 296 and 300 , one of which contains an indication of the authorship of Gerin ( Guerin , five other fablos are attributed to a person named Garin or Guerin ) [9] ; the second (anonymous) - in one manuscript of 280 verses [10] [4] . The first version, the earlier one, uses the plot for a lesson about the danger of falling under the control of his wife; it ends with the moral of the narrator:
He was embarrassed
And defeat acknowledged;
And that was the will in everything,
What was not deprived
Origin and mind:
Weak shepherd - ruin the wolves rune!
Desconfit se sant et maté.
Et cele fait sa volenté,
Qui ne fu sote ne vilaine:
A mol pastor chie los laine!
Although the narrator admires a smart woman who behaved appropriately, the last line puts an emphasis on her husband. The second version, on the contrary, ends with seven lines talking about how to brag badly. Also, in the second version, the husband boasts imaginary exploits not only to his wife, but also to other people, while in the first version he tries to impress his wife, which again reduces the story to the usual lesson about gender roles in marriage. More than 20 lines in the second version are devoted to the wife thinking about how best to check her husband’s praise (in the first, everything happens by itself in the course of the plot); describes how the wife skillfully hides her plans [6] [11] .
Notes
- ↑ Zhalmenova O. P., Verzhevikina E. S. Feminism and antifeminism. Ethics of the Middle Ages // Bulletin of the Tambov University. Series: Humanities. - 2000. - No. 4. - S. 17.
- ↑ 1 2 3 “Fifteen joys of marriage” and other works of French authors of the XIV-XV centuries / Comp. and holes ed. Yu. L. Immortal . - M .: Nauka, 1991 .-- S. 131-139, 272-273. - 317 p.
- ↑ T.I. Zaitseva. Hedonistic attitudes in French and Russian urban literature: the origins of the new European gender code . udik.com.ua. Date of treatment September 5, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Berengier au lonc cul: Bibliographie . ARLIMA . red. Laurent Brun (2016).
- ↑ White, p. 187
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Crocker, Holly. Comic Provocations: Exposing the Corpus of Old French Fabliaux . - Springer, 2006. - P. 20-21, 115, 118. - 204 p. - ISBN 9780230601178 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Cuckolds, Clerics, & Countrymen: Medieval French Fabliaux / Eichmann, Raymond (introduction, texts, notes), John DuVal (translation). - Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1982. - P. 47-58.
- ↑ Gaunt, Simon. Gender and Genre in medieval French Literature . - New York, 1995.
- ↑ The text and the English translation by J. Duvall are given in the 1982 edition [7]
- ↑ The text is given in the edition of Malo 1826 (with banknotes ) and translated into Russian by Denisov [2] .
- ↑ White, p. 186-188
Literature
- Bérengier, fabliau // Le livre Mignard, ou La fleur des fabliaux. Ed. Charles Malo. Paris, 1826. P. 82-93.
- White, Sarah Melhado. Sexual Language and Human Conflict in Old French Fabliaux // Comparative Studies in Society and History. - 1982. - Vol. 24, No. 2 (April). - P. 185-210.
Link
- Bold Berangier . Translation by Yu. N. Stefanov . Gremlin's treasure. Date of appeal May 24, 2017.