Doré and the genre painter Aurélie Léontine Malbet (fl.1868–1906) pictured the rats realistically acting out their debate. The illustrator Grandville, along with the contemporaries (1823–1901) and Auguste Delierre (1829–1890), caricature the backward practice and pomposity of provincial legislatures, making much the same point as did the Mediaeval authors who first recorded the tale. At the end of the century a publishing curiosity reverts to the first approach. This was in the woodblock print by Kawanabe Kyōsui that appeared in the collection of La Fontaine's fables that was commissioned and printed in Tokyo in 1894 and then exported to France. In the upper left-hand corner a cat is seen through a warehouse window as it approaches across the roofs while inside the rats swarm up the straw-wrapped bales of goods. At its summit the chief rat holds the bell aloft. An earlier Japanese woodblock formed part of Kawanabe Kyōsai's Isoho Monogotari series (1870–80). This shows an assembly of mice in Japanese dress with the proposer in the foreground, brandishing the belled collar. Musical settings In the 18th century the fable was one among many set by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault in the fables section of Nouvelles poésies spirituelles et morales sur les plus beaux airs (1730–37). In the following century the text of La Fontaine's fable was set for male voices by Louis Lacombe and by the Catalan composer Isaac Albéniz for medium voice and piano in 1889. In 1950 it was set for four male voices by Florent Schmitt. But while La Fontaine's humorously named cat Rodilardus, and antiquated words like discomfiture (déconfiture), may fit an art song, there have also been faithful interpretations in the field of light music. A popular composer of the day, Prosper Massé, published such a setting in 1846. More recently there has been Pierre Perret's interpretation as part of his 20 Fables inspirées de Jean de la Fontaine (1995), and a jazz arrangement on Daniel Roca's 10 Fables de La Fontaine (2005). See also Collective action problem References External links 19th–20th century book illustrations online Collection of primary fable sources online La Fontaine's Fables Colloquial terms Metaphors referring to cats English-language idioms Cats in literature Mice and rats in literature ATU 100-149