Abstract
“Le roi des poissons” (“The Fish King”) and “La sorcière” (“The Witch”) are tales of fantasy and enchantment belonging to France’s rich oral tradition. The oral tales presented here for the first time in an English translation were originally recited in Occitan, or langue d’oc, a Romance language still spoken in many parts of southern France, as in Spain’s Aran Valley, and recognized today as an official language of Catalonia. First published in French translation by Louis Lambert (1835–1908) in 1899, “The Fish King” and “The Witch” offer the modern reader many elements of the popular fairy tale: witches and fairies who perform acts of sorcery, magical potions used to transform humans into animals, the slaying of a beast by a folkloric hero, the reunion of a princess with the one who saves her life, and a cathartic ending for an entire village.
Recommended Citation
Frederick, Patricia. "Two Occitan Tales from Languedoc." Marvels & Tales 23.1 (2009). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol23/iss1/8>.
