River McCaughey
Professor Pressman
ECL 305
3 March 2024
Melusine: The Great Old Hunter (Pages 11 &12)

The original story of Melusine was composed by French writer Jean d’Arras at the end of the 14th century. This particular adaptation was written by Andre Lebey in the late 19th century, and translated from French to English by Gareth Knight. This means the story has gone through two separate interpretations. Therefore, it must be considered that any beliefs related to the current culture of either Knight or Lebey may show through the text. The other influential values that are projected into this text are of the time when the story was written, during the Feudal times in Western Europe. What we see after reading is that Lebey has strong opinions on the difference between his world in Western Europe, and the society that existed 500 years prior. Andre Lebey wrote his version of Melusine in the late 19th century. This is significant because Western Europe, where Lebey lived, was going through the peak of the Industrial Revolution. During this time, many people moved to cities as farming required fewer hands to support large populations. Jobs shifted from small-scale agricultural work to large-scale factories. The development of capitalism was in full swing, and income levels were starting to spread apart between classes. As people moved to dense cities far from nature, I believe that Lebey sought to explore why this happened, and what it meant for the wellbeing of humanity. In the first two pages of Chapter 1, The Great Old Hunter, of his adaptation of Melusine, Andre Lebey invites readers to consider how Feudal Europe sprouted humans’ eventual disconnect from the natural environment. He employed healthy amounts of nature imagery to display the juxtaposition between Feudal and Industrial Europe. I believe that this juxtaposition was a way for him to highlight that humanity is better off when it’s closer to nature.
Lebey describes the village as people who “lived close to nature in those days, even in towns” (Lebey 11). Lebey seems to be deliberately describing the scene as something different from the way the world he lives in now. Without explicitly saying it, he suggests that life in the industrial world is somehow far from nature. This early in the story, it’s difficult to say whether he is reminiscing in some way on how he wishes it could have stayed, or if Lebey is glad that the world doesn’t have to struggle against the forces of nature as it did in the 14th century. Lebey also refers to the hunter as “legendary”, which suggests that the people of his time praise hunters. During the 14th century, hunters were much more common as a way to get food. By the time Lebey wrote his adaptation of Melusine, the world had already shifted away from the hunter as a way to get food. Agriculture was the main source of food and hunting was transitioning into a sport. Shortly after, Lebey describes the forest as “menacing and dangerous, full of the unknown, concealing the surprising and unnatural” (Lebey 11). By suggesting that the nature surrounding the village is dark and scary, Lebey conveys that the villagers see the natural environment outside the walled society as fearful. With the description of the village as having fields “right up to the walls” (Lebey 11) readers can conclude that there is already some disconnect from the natural world through physical man-made separation. The fear of nature combined with the resources to separate nature from man is what Lebey argues caused society to isolate itself from the natural environment.
On the next page, Lebey begins to elaborate on this juxtaposition between the industrial world that he lives in and that of the 14th century. After discussing the feared creatures of the forest, Lebey points out that “evil reigned only if heroes failed to confront its dangers” (Lebey 12). This is where readers first see his inclination to present nature as a place that needs to be visited. He goes on to say, “Humans do not show their mettle if left to themselves” (Lebey 12). Here, Lebey is explicitly revealing that humans are not as resilient if they do not confront the dangers of nature. Lebey next gives an example of a haw that holds the “Code of Love.” Lebey is suggesting that if humans do not have contact with nature, then they will not only be left without resilience, but they will be unknowing about the secrets of the world. In this part of the chapter, readers are shown the possibility that there is a purpose for the human connection to nature.
Shortly after in the story, it becomes clear that Lebey is reminiscing on the way that the past may have been before the Industrial Revolution. Through the imagery of nature, Lebey explains how “Man developed without dissociating or abstracting himself from the world” (Lebey 12). The author is implying that the Industrial Revolution caused humans to become dissociated from the natural environment. He also reinforces the point that man is further from nature by juxtaposing the hunting back then as “so different from our own, more justifiable because more difficult and necessary” (Lebey 12). By contrasting hunting in the 14th century to hunting of his time, Lebey suggests there is no need for hunting anymore, and there isn’t any reason to do it with the development of inventions like the seed drill. Lebey is continuously uses the imagery of nature to romanticize it in a way that calls for readers to see that the way life is in cities away from nature is not in fact better for society.
The way that Lebey describes the natural world in these first two pages of The Great Old Hunter is heavily influenced by the language used in classic fairy tales. By writing in this way, he creates a sort of desire for the reader to behold the society that they cannot live in. I believe that Lebey also utilized this story to highlight the beginning of “Man’s” separation from the natural world. The image that Lebey paints through his text is of a small town, walled off. Next to it is the natural world where the fearful yet omniscient creatures reside. By emphasizing the early separation of Man and nature, Lebey is pointing at where he believes humanity went wrong.
Through his imagery of nature, Lebey conveys to readers of the Industrial Revolution that life before Man was separated from nature was better than it is now. He juxtaposes the lifestyles without explicitly explaining the way that the world he lives in is. The romanticization of nature and the secrets it may hold are how Lebey draws his audience to realize how nature is not only something to be feared but should be cherished. He hopes people will understand nature as important for humanity, and that the feudal times acted as a liminal space between nature and Man with the construction of walls keeping society from the outside world.