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chantefable
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chantefable

literature
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History

chantefable, a medieval tale of adventure told in alternating sections of sung verse and recited prose. The word itself was used—and perhaps coined—by the anonymous author of the 13th-century French work Aucassin et Nicolette in its concluding lines: “No cantefable prent fin” (“Our chantefable is drawing to a close”). The work is the sole surviving example of the genre. The word is from the Old French (Picard dialect) cantefable, literally, “(it) sings (and it) narrates.”