SOURCE: "Marie de France As Naturalist," in Romance Notes, Vol. XXI, No. 2, Winter, 1980, pp. 248-53.

In the following essay, Harrison suggests that in her lais and fables, Marie is not interested in plant and animal lore except insofar as it can be used to symbolize or reflect upon human behavior.

Although Marie de France is certainly the author of courtly works infused with great sensitivity and perception about the human psyche, she frequently resorts to flora and fauna of diverse form and type to advance the intrigue, to instruct a character or the reader, to serve as symbol, and to amuse or ornament. Even the most casual reader must note that the Ysopet is, first of all, a collection in which 85% of the stories are animal centered, while five of the twelve lais are named either for a plant (honeysuckle), for a bird (nightingale), or for a character...