 However, in the new fables, featuring human female characters, Marie de France asserts female power and cunning, disparaging men who are ignorant or behave foolishly.One character, a peasant woman, makes multiple appearances in the fables of Marie de France and is praised for her shrewd and sly ways.Fables 44, "The Woman Who Tricked Her Husband" and 45, "A Second Time, a Woman Tricks Her Husband", both recount tales of the same peasant woman successfully carrying out an affair despite her husband having caught her with her lover both times.