1 68 THE FOX 



lion asks the wolf to divide the spoil. The wolf, 

 being no courtier, suggests an equal division of the 

 calf. The lion then turns to the fox, who assigns 

 the greater part to the lion, and the hoofs only to 

 himself and the wolf; the latter complains and is 

 driven off by the lion, while the fox remains and 

 basks in the royal favour. 



In the enmity between the wolf and the fox we 

 have only the embellishment of a literal truth, and 

 these stories of the wolf outwitted by the fox are among 

 the oldest fables, bearing traces of their popular origin 

 in a certain coarseness of humour and detail. We 

 have already seen that the wolf is the most dangerous 

 enemy of the fox. The idea that the fox deceives 

 and robs the wolf ' Saepe condita luporum fiunt 

 rapinse vulpium ' (Plautus) is probably literally true. 

 The wolf, like all the rest of the Cantdce, buries 

 what he cannot eat ; the fox's keen nose finds the 

 hoards and he digs them up. Even the wrongs 

 against the family of the wolf laid to the fox's door 

 in all the Reynard poems, have a certain foundation, 

 partly in fact, partly in the universal belief of the 

 people in the interbreeding of fox and dog and wolf. 

 Everyone who has read the account of the relation 

 between the fox and the badger, indifferently called 

 the fox's uncle or nephew, will recognise much 



