The Libro de Calila e Digna is the earliest example
of Castilian Spanish prose fiction. It is an anonymous collection of moral beast-fables that was
commissioned by ALFONSO X (called el Sabio or “the
Wise”) in 1251, before he became king, based on the
Arabic collection by Abdulla ibn al-Muqaffa, the
Kalila wa-Dimna. The Arabic text was in turn a
translation of a lost Persian collection by a certain
Barzuya. Ultimately, the collection stems from the
Sanskrit Panchatantra, a third-century Hindu compilation that had been made for an Indian king.
Like most collections of animal fables, Libro de
Calila e Digna is didactic in intent, satirizing
human behavior through the tales of animals. The
title of the book comes from the names of two
jackals whose story forms the frame narrative for
the collection. Digna is a power-hungry schemer
who brings about his own downfall and ultimately
his death after he causes the estrangement of the
bull and the lion. Within this frame many other
characters who are part of the main action temporarily take on the role of narrator and tell stories
of their own. In addition, the whole story of Digna
is placed within a larger frame of a conversation
between a philosopher and a king, so that the
structure of the narrative includes tales within
tales, a popular Oriental and Middle Eastern technique that lies behind such collections as the
THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS.
The Libro de Calila e Digna stands at the head of
the long tradition of Spanish prose fiction. It directly influenced the collection of 51 tales called El
conde Lucanor (or the Libro de Patronio) by Alfonso X’s nephew, Juan MANUEL (1282–1348). It
also influenced the episodic structure of later picaresque novels that culminate in Cervantes’s Don
Quixote. The Libro de Calila e Digna was ultimately
translated into Latin by Raymond de Bézier in
1313, a translation that made the text popular
throughout Europe.
Bibliography
Calila e Dimna. Edited with an introduction and
notes by Juan Manuel Cacho Blecua y María Jesús
Lacarra. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, 1984.
Parker, Margaret. Didactic Structure and Content of
El Libro de Calila e Digna. Miami, Fla.: Ediciones
Universal, 1978.
Picerno, Richard A., ed. Medieval Spanish Ejempla: A
Study of Selected Tales from “Calila y Dimna,” “El
libro de los engaños de las mujeres” and the “Libro
de los exemplos por A.B.C.” Miami, Fla.: Ediciones
Universal, 1988.