The Ball at Sceaux

"The Ball at Sceaux" is the fifth work of Honoré de Balzac, one of the oldest texts of la Comédie Humaine. In writing this novella Balzac seems to have been inspired by the fables of La Fontaine, especially La fille («The Girl») and Héron («The Heron»). «The Human Comedy» is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48).