fabliau

• The writers were often clerks or laymen who had turned from the vanities of youth--fabliau or romance--and now aimed at edification or instruction. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
• It aims at mirth and laughter for their own sakes, without any purpose of edification; it had, like the fabliau, the merit of brevity, and not infrequently the fault of unabashed grossness. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
• No. 60 is from an old fabliau, (_Frčre Denise, cordelier_) and is to be found in the Heptameron_, the Apologie pour Hérodote etc Footnote 61: by Poncelet, or Pourcelet, one of the Council of the Duke of Burgundy. —  Cent nouvelles nouvelles
• He died in 1503 Footnote 85: The story is taken from an old fabliau (Le Forgeron de Creil) and has been used also by Sachetti, Des Periers and others. —  Cent nouvelles nouvelles
• The tale had become almost a fabliau, but any one who reads the amusing chapter will see that it is based on a belief in disturbances like those familiar to Glanvill and the Misses Fox. —  Cock Lane and Common-Sense

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms