Foxes in Folk Tales: From Aesop to Reynard

Foxes appear in literature and legend across the world. Look at Brer Fox in the American South. In Rebel Folklore, I discussed the Jiuwei Hu of China, or nine-tailed fox, who drains men of their life force. Korea’s kumiho is a similar spirit, while Japan has the supernatural fox spirit, the kitsune.

Scholar Al-Biruni, magician Cornelius Agrippa, and astrologer William Lilly put the fox under Mercury’s rulership. Mercury is the trickster of the Roman gods, and represents communication, cleverness, speed, and resourcefulness – all qualities traditionally associated with the fox. It probably explains why dreaming of foxes meant you should beware of treachery and thieves.

I have an exclusive article about foxes for Patrons on the lowest tier, but I’ve also made it available for sale if you’d like to read some additional fox folklore. As it is, it seems foxes also appear in folk tales and literature so I managed to write a whole new episode that didn’t involve the lore from the article!

‘The Fox and the Goose’

This English folk song was collected in the 20th century, though scholars can trace its composition to at least the 15th century. The manuscript containing the first version was only published in 1952, so before that, people assumed it was a late 18th-century song, at most. The act of writing it down is dated to between 1474 and 1525, though George Perkins suggests the oral version to be far older (1961: 236).

There are a lot of variations in the recorded versions, given the passage of four hundred years between its oral version and the published one, though Perkins gives a version that is closest to the hypothetical ‘original’ (1961: 238). This is a combination of versions from both England and the United States.

The Plot

In it, the fox goes out one night in the winter, and prays to the moon to provide plenty of light. Eventually, he reaches a farmer’s yard full of ducks and geese. The fox warns them that the best of them will grease his beard, and grabs a grey goose and a duck.

The farmer’s wife hears the commotion and sticks her head out of the window. She cries out to her husband that the fox has killed the grey goose. Her husband goes to the top of the hill and blows his horn. The fox tells him to blow on while he heads home.

Sure enough, the fox reaches his den where he finds his mate and nine or ten cubs. The cubs congratulate him on his success, and they set about enjoying the goose. No one mentions the duck he carried on his back, but presumably they enjoyed that too.

Other Versions

Sir Walter Scott recorded a version in 1826 in which the fox was referred to as “the Tod” (Perkins 1961: 237). The version provided by Perkins names the fox ‘Reynard’, though he does note this name doesn’t appear in other versions. One version includes a stanza in which the fox hurries away after hearing hounds, which could explain why the farmer blows the horn on the hill. Another version sees the farmer shoot the fox for the theft of the birds (1961: 239).

Perkins noted that nursery rhyme books often included ‘The Fox and the Goose’, but didn’t include music to accompany the lyrics. This turned the song into more of a poem, which allowed it to appear in books of children’s poetry (1961: 241). Either way, it’s a surprisingly simplistic song, focused on the hunting prowess of the fox, and its perceived tendency to steal livestock. It appeals less to the image of the fox as a trickster, since the fox simply enters the yard without needing to use its cunning. Instead, the fox is portrayed as a farmyard pest.

But what is interesting is the use of the name ‘Reynard’. Let’s explore that a bit further.

Reynard the Fox

Reynard is the trickster fox. While some attribute tales about him to Aesop, we should really look at the Roman de Renart from the late 12th century. The story originally came from the Netherlands (although both France and Germany lay claim to the origin point), but William Caxton brought it to a wider audience with an English translation, Reynard the Fox in 1481.

Reynard the Fox lives in a kingdom populated by other animals. He regularly commits unpleasant acts against other creatures, yet he continually evades punishment. Reynard constantly frustrates those who accuse him with his ability to lie and bend language in his favour. Charles C. Mish described Reynard as displaying “cynical contempt for order and authority” (1954: 329).

The General Idea

King Noble the Lion commands his subjects to attend his court. Reynard fails to appear, since several of the animals he has wronged will be there, so Isegrim the Wolf, Chantecleer the Rooster, and Curtis the Little Hound all lodge complaints against him. King Noble sends out emissaries to bring Reynard to the court, and it is only the third emissary, Grimbart the Brock, who succeeds. The weight of complaints against Reynard is such that King Noble orders his execution.

Yet Reynard pretends to have discovered a plot against the king and wins a reprieve. When King Noble realises it is a ruse, Reynard wins his freedom again by claiming he has magical gifts for the king. Irritated by Reynard’s ability to avoid the noose, Isegrim challenges Reynard to combat. He hopes to finally bring Reynard to justice, but the fox cheats again and wins. King Noble pardons him and Reynard emerges as the king’s greatest subject (Mish 1954: 330).

A Popular Series

This might sound like an odd story to have become so popular, given it essentially invites people to injure their neighbours because they can get away with it. Yet Reynard also included lengthy morals in each chapter, which explain why Reynard is ultimately in the wrong. These morals only appear in the 1620 edition, published during the reign of James I/VI, and are missing from earlier editions (Mish 1954: 331). This is likely an attempt to caution people against challenging authority.

Two further sequels followed, although the writer had to focus on Reynard’s son in the second sequel, after killing off Reynard in the first.

But why is Reynard a fox? Likely due to the association between foxes and cunning. Like other tricksters, Reynard relies on his wit and guile to defeat his opponents. And yes, if you’re wondering, the 1973 Disney version of Robin Hood was partially based on Reynard the Fox (Larsen 2014). While Reynard is incredibly violent, Disney combined parts of the story (such as the animals) with the idea of Robin Hood standing up to the so-called illegitimate ruler of England.

The Fox, the Wolf and the Horse

Our final fox folk tale is ‘The Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse’ from the Fables of Aesop, later popularised by Jean de La Fontaine.

In this story, a fox and a wolf are neighbours. The fox spots a horse in the meadow, although he’s not sure what it is because he’s never seen one before. He goes to see the wolf to tell him about the new creature in the area.

The wolf asks him what the creature looks like, and asks to see a picture. The fox admits he can’t paint, or he’d paint him a picture of the animal. In lieu of a painting, he asks if the wolf wants to come with him to see it. After all, the animal might be prey for them.

When they reach the meadow, the horse takes an immediate dislike to them, recognising them as threats. He turns to gallop away to another part of the meadow where he can graze in peace. The fox calls out and asks him what his name is.

The horse pauses and sees the opportunity before him. He tells them that they can read his name for themselves because it’s engraved on his horseshoes.

The fox apologises and explains that his parents never taught him to read. He further explains that the wolf taught at college and could read it, no matter what language it was. Susceptible to flattery, the wolf approaches the horse to inspect the horseshoe. He loses four teeth when the horse lashes out a hoof, which does indeed give him a closer look at the shoe (de La Fontaine 1888: 333).

This tale ends with a moral by the fox, who tells the wolf that he’d learned a lesson from “a fox of wit” that the wise mistrust all unknown things. Here, the story relies on the cunning of the fox, who, being a trickster, also recognises the trick about to be played by the horse. It’s an interesting story in terms of the horse’s quick thinking, but even more so for the way it portrays the wolf as gullible and easy to flatter, while the fox is clever enough to spot the ruse. It is unclear if the fox has realised all of this at the point he spots the horse in the first place. Yet he certainly leaves the wolf to take the fall.

Variations

Interestingly, J. F. Campbell collected a similar tale from stable boy John Mackinnon in Skye in the 19th century. In this version, a horse is tied up outside a blacksmith’s house. Two foxes come along and spot that the horse has one golden shoe. The bigger of the foxes goes to read what name is written on the shoe, but the horse lashes out and kicks the fox in the head. It seems strange to see a fox bested so easily, and the trickster element is removed entirely (1890: 286).

That said, before the foxes arrived at the smith’s house, they did trick a man out of his catch. In this part of the tale, the foxes spotted a man carrying a creel of herrings. The larger fox ran ahead and lay on the road, as if dead. When the man found him, he picked up what he thought was the corpse and put him in the creel. While the man kept walking, the fox threw the herrings from the creel down to the smaller fox that followed. The big fox leaped out once he’d emptied the creel, and they ran off. Once the horse had dashed out the brains of the big fox, the smaller one thus had the haul of herrings all to himself. As he said, “no scholar me, nor wish I to be” (Campbell 1890: 287). Here, his not being able to read saved him from his companion’s fate. Being educated is not the same as being intelligent, and while the big fox has the cunning idea to steal the herrings, it is the little fox who gets to enjoy them.

Why are Foxes Tricksters in Folk Tales?

Pelayo Benavides suggests that the fox, like other ‘trickster’ animals like the spider, crow, or hyena, ends up in this role across cultures for a specific reason. These animals occupy a liminal space between “the cultural space and the wilderness”, and foxes being nocturnal grants them an outsider status. Foxes appearing in urban areas at dusk make them especially ‘out of their place’ (2013: 70).

Yet even though these animals are perceived negatively, they become useful in stories because they provide tales that can be discussed or thought about. In essence, their stories are teaching tools (Benavides 2013: 70). Even when we look at the stories in East Asia in which fox spirits may appear as alluring women, they still caution people not to be deceived by appearances. Foxes, with their wit and cunning, can literally out-fox us!

What do you make of foxes in folk tales? Let me know below!

References

Benavides, Pelayo (2013), ‘Animal Symbolism in Folk Narratives and Human Attitudes towards Predators: An Analysis of Their Mutual Influences’, Folklore, vol. 124, no. 1, pp. 64–80.

Campbell, John Francis (1890), Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected, Volume 1, London: Alexander Gardner.

de La Fontaine, Jean (1888), The Fables of La Fontaine, Book 12, trans. Elizur Wright, London: G. Bell and Sons.

Larsen, Andrew E. (2014), ‘The Inspiration For Disney’s Robin Hood Wasn’t Actually Robin Hood’, Gizmodo, https://gizmodo.com/the-inspiration-for-disneys-robin-hood-wasnt-actually-r-1637183737. Accessed 15 September 2025.

Mish, Charles C. (1954), ‘‘Reynard the Fox’ in the Seventeenth Century’, Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 327–44.

Perkins, George (1961), ‘A Medieval Carol Survival: ‘The Fox and the Goose.’’, The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 74, no. 293, pp. 235–44.