Jean de l'Ours

This article is about the French 301B type folktale and its character. For a looser grouping of tales, see Bear's Son Tale.
Jean de l'Ours.
An artist's visualization with bear's ears.[a]

Jean de l'Ours (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ də luʁs])[b] or John the Bear,[1] John of the Bear,[2] John-of-the-Bear,[3] John Bear, is the leading character in the French folktale Jean de l'Ours classed as Type 301B[c] in the Aarne–Thompson system; it can also denote any tale of this type.

Some typical elements are that the hero is born half-bear, half-human; he obtains a weapon, usually a heavy iron cane, and on his journey; he bands up with two or three companions. At a castle the hero defeats an adversary, pursues him to a hole, discovers an underworld, and rescues three princesses. The companions abandon him in the hole, taking the princesses for themselves. The hero escapes, finds the companions and gets rid of them. He marries the most beautiful princess of the three, but not before going through certain ordeal(s) by the king.[5]

The character is said to be one of "the most popular tale-types in Hispanic and Francophone tradition".[6] Numerous variants exist in France, often retaining the name Jean de l'Ours or something similar for the hero. Some of the analogues in Europe that retain the names corresponding to "John" are: Jan de l'Ors (Occitan: [ˈdʒan de ˈluɾs]); Joan de l'Ós (Catalan: [ʒuˈan də ˈlɔs] or [dʒoˈan də ˈlɔs]);[7][8] Juan del Oso, Juan el Oso, Juanito el Oso, Juanillo el Oso (Spanish: [ˈxwan (d)el ˈoso], [xwaˈnito el ˈoso; -niʎo]);[9] Giovanni dell'Orso (Italian: [dʒoˈvanni delˈlorso]),[10] Iann he vaz houarn (Breton);[d] Ivashko Medvedko [ru] (Russian).[11][12][13][14] The tale has also propagated to the New World, with examples from French Canada, Mexico, etc.


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  1. ^ Thompson (1968), pp. 3–9.
  2. ^ Creighton, Taft & Caplan (1993), pp. 81–88.
  3. ^ Delarue & Fife (tr.) (1956), pp. 45–65.
  4. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Folklore Fellows Communications (FFC) n. 284. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. p. 177.
  5. ^ Delarue (1949), pp. 318–320: analysis of themes for sections II ~ VII (applicable to Type 301 B)
  6. ^ McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0
  7. ^ Maspons y Labrós (1871), pp. 11–17.
  8. ^ Amades (1974), pp. 3–8.
  9. ^ Espinosa (1924), pp. 275–283.
  10. ^ Visentini (1879), pp. 157–161.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference afanasief-ivashko was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference chambers-ivashko was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Ivan the Bear’s Son." In: The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev: Volume I, edited by Haney Jack V., 359-61. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qhm7n.99.
  14. ^ "The Bear, Moustaches, Mountain Man, and Oakman Bogatyrs." In: The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev: Volume I, edited by Haney Jack V., 321-29. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qhm7n.91.