THE FOX IN FABLE 163 



stories upon popular legends. It is curious to note 

 how in all countries and in all ages the character of 

 the fox has made an impression on the mind of man. 

 He has become the type of those who seek by the 

 exercise of wit and cunning to redress the inequality 

 greater in earlier times than now between strength 

 and weakness. The fox is a beast of prey and yet 

 not dangerous to man. He is widely distributed and 

 haunts the neighbourhood of our houses ; a thief and 

 a robber working by night ; sudden in his descents 

 and often escaping when hunted by men and dogs, 

 as the fables will show he always has been. 



We have seen above how the fox has survived at 

 first in spite of pursuit, and later because he was 

 hunted. The character of the fox sketched in fable, 

 and elaborated in ' Reynard the Fox,' reflects the im- 

 pression made by him on the peasant mind. The fox 

 fable had its origin in the cabin of the peasant or the 

 hut of the serf. Reynard in the fables displays a type 

 which attracts and repels the peasant in all ages. 

 The poor man cannot but sympathise with the astute- 

 ness by which the fox outwits powerful, benevolent, 

 but withal capricious animals like the lion, while he 

 resents the trickery which robs his own hen-roost. 

 Superstitious himself, he envies the elegant freedom 

 of Reynard from scruples of conscience. Honest 



M 2 



