This article is about the fox character in Northwest European literature. For other uses, see Reynard (disambiguation).
Illumination from a manuscript of the Roman de Renart, end of the 13th century
Reynard (Dutch: Reinaert; French: Renard; German: Reineke or Reinicke; Latin: Renartus) is the main character in a literary cycle of allegoricalDutch, English, French and Germanfables. Those stories are largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphicred fox and trickster figure. His adventures usually involve him deceiving other anthropomorphic animals for his own advantage or trying to avoid retaliations from them. His main enemy and victim across the cycle is his uncle, the wolf Isengrim (or Ysengrim). While the character of Reynard appears in later works, the core stories were written during the Middle Ages by multiple authors and are often seen as parodies of medieval literature such as courtly love stories and chansons de geste, as well as a satire of political and religious institutions.[1]
Dutch(Nederlands) is a West Germanic language spoken by around 23 million people as a first language and 5 million people as a second language, constituting the majority of people in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives English and German.
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
The name Reynard originates from the Germanic masculine name Reginhard, a typical dithematic name. Its two elements are regin, meaning "counsel", and hard, meaning "hard", i.e. "strong". Its surface meaning "strong of counsel" thus identifies the bearer as wise, clever, or resourceful. The name Regin was also borne by a god of the old Germanic religion, offering for Reginhard the reading "made hard by Regin". With the disuse of the old Germanic religion, the name may have later been interpreted as "rain-hard" meaning "staying steady under a rain of blows from weapons in battle" or similar.[original research?]
Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from æþele, for "noble", and ræd, for "counsel".
Reginn, often Anglicized as Regin or Regan, in Norse mythology, is a son of Hreiðmarr and foster father of Sigurd. His brothers are Fafnir and Ótr. When Loki mistakenly kills Ótr, Hreiðmarr demands to be repaid with the amount of gold it takes to fill Ótr's skin and cover the outside. Loki takes this gold from the dwarf Andvari, who curses it and especially the ring Andvaranaut. Fafnir kills his father for this gold, but eventually becomes a greedy dragon. Reginn gets none of the gold, but he becomes smith to the king and foster father to Sigurd, teaching him many languages as well as sports, chess, and runes.
Germanic paganism refers to the indigenous religion of the Germanic people from the Iron Age until Christianisation during the Middle Ages. From both archaeological remains and literary sources, it is possible to trace a number of common or closely related beliefs throughout the Germanic area from the beginning of our era to the Middle Ages, where the last pagan areas in Scandinavia become Christians. Rooted in Proto-Indo-European religion, Proto-Germanic religion expanded during the Migration Period, yielding extensions such as Old Norse religion among the North Germanic peoples, Continental Germanic paganism among the continental Germanic peoples, and Anglo-Saxon paganism among the West Germanic people. Germanic religion is best documented in several texts from the 10th and 11th centuries, where they have been best preserved in Scandinavia and Iceland.
Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard became the standard French word for "fox", replacing the old French word for "fox", which was goupil from Latin vulpecula. Goupil is now dialectal or archaic.
Old French was the language spoken in Northern France from the 8th century to the 14th century. In the 14th century, these dialects came to be collectively known as the langue d'oïl, contrasting with the langue d'oc or Occitan language in the south of France. The mid-14th century is taken as the transitional period to Middle French, the language of the French Renaissance, specifically based on the dialect of the Île-de-France region.
The figure of Reynard is thought to have originated in Lorrainefolklore from where it spread to France, the Low Countries, and Germany.[2] An extensive treatment of the character is the Old FrenchLe Roman de Renart written by Pierre de Saint-Cloud around 1170, which sets the typical setting. Reynard has been summoned to the court of king Noble, or Leo, the lion, to answer charges brought against him by Isengrim the wolf. Other anthropomorphic animals, including Bruin the bear, Baldwin the ass, and Tibert (Tybalt) the cat, all attempt one stratagem or another. The stories typically involve satire whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character.[2] The story of the preaching fox found in the Reynard literature was used in church art by the Catholic Church as propaganda against the Lollards.[3] Reynard's principal castle, Maupertuis, is available to him whenever he needs to hide away from his enemies. Some of the tales feature Reynard's funeral, where his enemies gather to deliver maudlin elegies full of insincere piety, and which feature Reynard's posthumous revenge. Reynard's wife Hermeline appears in the stories, but plays little active role, although in some versions she remarries when Reynard is thought dead, thereby becoming one of the people he plans revenge upon. Isengrim (alternate French spelling: Ysengrin) is Reynard's most frequent antagonist and foil, and generally ends up outwitted, though he occasionally gets revenge.
Lorraine is a cultural and historical region in north-eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Lorraine's name stems from the medieval kingdom of Lotharingia, which in turn was named for either Emperor Lothair I or King Lothair II. It later was ruled as the Duchy of Lorraine before the Kingdom of France annexed it in 1766.
Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstration. The academic study of folklore is called Folklore studies, and it can be explored at undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. levels.
The Low Countries, the Low Lands, or historically also the Netherlands, is a coastal lowland region in northwestern Europe, forming the lower basin of the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt rivers, divided in the Middle Ages into numerous semi-independent principalities that consolidated in the countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, as well as today's French Flanders.
Ysengrimus
Reynard appears first in the medieval Latin poem Ysengrimus, a long Latin mock-epic written c. 1148–1153 by the poet Nivardus in Ghent, that collects a great store of Reynard's adventures. He also puts in an early appearance in a number of Latin sequences by the preacher Odo of Cheriton. Both of these early sources seem to draw on a pre-existing store of popular culture featuring the character.
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets and ultimately from the Phoenician alphabet.
Ysengrimus is a Latin fabliau and mock epic, an anthropomorphic series of fables written in 1148 or 1149, possibly by the poet Nivardus. Its chief character is Isengrin the Wolf, and it describes how his various schemes are overcome by the trickster figure Reynard the Fox.
Ghent is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the second largest municipality in Belgium, after Antwerp. The city originally started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Leie and in the Late Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe, with some 50,000 people in 1300. It is a port and university city.
Roman de Renart
The first "branch" (or chapter) of the Roman de Renart appears in 1174, written by Pierre de St. Cloud, although in all French editions it is designated as "Branch II". The same author wrote a sequel in 1179—called "Branch I"—but from that date onwards, many other French authors composed their own adventures for Renart li goupil ("the fox"). There is also the text Reinhard Fuchs by Heinrich der Glïchezäre, dated to c.1180.
Heinrich der Glïchezäre was a Middle High German poet from Alsace, author of a narrative poem, Reinhart Fuchs (Reynard), the oldest German beast epic that we possess.
Pierre de St. Cloud opens his work on the fox by situating it within the larger tradition of epic poetry, the fabliaux and Arthurian romance:
This would roughly translate as:
Seigneurs, oï avez maint conte Que maint conterre vous raconte Conment Paris ravi Elaine, Le mal qu'il en ot et la paine, De Tristan que la Chievre fist Qui assez bellement en dist Et fabliaus et chançons de geste Romanz d'Yvain et de sa beste Maint autre conte par la terre. Mais onques n'oïstes la guerre Qui tant fu dure de gran fin, Entre Renart et Ysengrin.
Lords, you have heard many tales, That many tellers have told to you. How Paris took Helen, The evil and the pain he felt Of Tristan that la Chevre Spoke rather beautifully about; And fabliaux and epics; Of the Romance of Yvain and his beast And many others told in this land But never have you heard about the war That was difficult and lengthy Between Reynard and Isengrim
Willem, die Madocke maecte, daer hi dicken omme waecte, hem vernoyde so haerde dat die avonture van Reynaerde in Dietsche onghemaket bleven – die Arnout niet hevet vulscreven – dat hi die vijte dede soucken ende hise na den Walschen boucken in Dietsche dus hevet begonnen.
Willem who made Madocke, which often kept him awake, was so extremely annoyed that the tales of Reynaert – which Arnout has not finished – remained unwritten in Dutch that he had the life looked for and, following the French books, he began it in Dutch as follows.
Madocke or Madoc is thought to be another one of Willem's works that at one point existed but was lost. The Arnout mentioned was an earlier Reynard poet whose work Willem (the writer) alleges to have finished. However, there are serious objections to this notion of joint authorship, and the only thing deemed likely is that Arnout was French-speaking ("Walschen" in Middle Dutch referred to northern French-speaking people, specifically the Walloons).[5] Willem's work became one of the standard versions of the legend, and was the foundation for most later adaptations in Dutch, German, and English, including those of William Caxton, Goethe, and F. S. Ellis.[4]
Illustration from Ghetelen in Reinke de Vos (1498)
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer used Reynard material in the Canterbury Tales; in "The Nun's Priest's Tale", Reynard appears as "Rossel" and an ass as "Brunel". In 1481 William Caxton printed The Historie of Reynart the Foxe, which was translated from Van den vos Reynaerde.[2] Also in the 1480s, the Scottish poet Robert Henryson devised a highly sophisticated development of Reynardian material as part of his Morall Fabillis in the sections known as The Talking of the Tod. Hans van Ghetelen, a printer of Incunabula in Lübeck printed an early German version called Reinke de Vos in 1498. It was translated to Latin and other languages, which made the tale popular across Europe. Reynard is also referenced in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight during the third hunt.
Modern treatment
The trickster figure Reynard the Fox as depicted in an 1869 children's book by Michel Rodange.
Renert
Renert [full original title: Renert oder de Fuuß am Frack an a Ma'nsgrëßt],[6][7] was published in 1872 by Michel Rodange, a Luxembourgeois author.
An epic satirical work—adapted from the 1858 Cotta Edition of Goethe's fox epic Reineke Fuchs to a setting in Luxembourg—[6] it is known for its insightful analysis of the unique characteristics of the people of Luxembourg, using regional and sub-regional dialects to depict the fox and his companions.
Antisemitic version
Van den vos Reynaerde (Of Reynaert the Fox) was an anti-Semitic children's story, written by the Dutch-Belgian Robert van Genechten, and named after the medieval Dutch poem. It was first published in 1937 in Nieuw-Nederland, a monthly publication of the Dutch Nazi Party's front, the NSB. In 1941 it was published as a book.
The story features a rhinoceros called Jodocus, somewhat akin to the Dutch word jood ("jew"); and a donkey, Boudewijn, who occupies the throne. Boudewijn, as King of "Belgium", was the Dutch name for the contemporary real-world Belgian crown prince. In the story, Jodocus is an outsider who comes to the Empire and subsequently introduces new ideas that drastically alter the natural order. The land is then declared a "Republic", where "liberty, equality and fraternity" are to be exercised. This dystopian view of socialist republics fits the Nazi ideology on equality and liberty as something degenerate: "There was no one who kept to the rules of the race. Rabbits crept into foxholes, the chickens wanted to build an eyrie." Eventually, Reynard and the others trick and kill Jodocus and his colleagues.[8]
Van den vos Reynaerde was also produced as a cartoon film by Nederlandfilm in 1943.[9] The film was mostly financed with German money. While lavishly budgeted, it was never presented publicly, possibly because most Dutch Jews had already been transported to the concentration camps and the film came too late to be useful as a propaganda piece, possibly also because the Dutch collaborationist Department of People's Information, Service and Arts objected to the fact that the fox, an animal traditionally seen as "villainous", should be used as a hero.[10] In 1991, parts of the film were found again in the German Bundesarchiv. In 2005, more pieces were found, and the film has been restored. The reconstructed film was shown during the 2006 Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht and during the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival in 2008, in the Netherlands.[11]
The documentary film Black Fox (1962) parallels Hitler's rise to power with the Reynard fable.
Initially, Walt Disney Animation Studios considered a movie about Reynard. However, due to Walt Disney's concern that Reynard was an unsuitable choice for a hero, the studio decided to make Reynard the antagonist of a single narrative feature film named Chanticleer and Reynard (based on Edmond Rostand's Chanticleer) but the production was scrapped in the mid-1960s, in favor of The Sword in the Stone (1963). Ken Anderson used the character designs for Robin Hood (1973) such as the animal counterparts (e.g. Robin Hood like Reynard is a fox while the Sheriff of Nottingham like Isengrim is a wolf).
In 1985, a French animated series, "Moi Renart(fr )" (I Reynard), was created that was loosely based on Reynard's tales. In it, the original animals are anthropomorphichumanoid animals (to the point that, primary, only their heads are that of animals) and the action occurs in modern Paris with other anthropomorphic animals in human roles. Reynard is a young mischievous fox with a little monkey pet called Marmouset (an original creation). He sets off into Paris in order to discover the city, get a job and visit his grumpy and stingy uncle, Isengrim, who is a deluxe car salesman, and his reasonable yet dreamy she-wolf aunt, Hersent. Reynard meets Hermeline, a young and charming motorbike-riding vixen journalist. He immediately falls in love with her and tries to win her heart during several of the episodes. As Reynard establishes himself in Paris, he creates a small company that shares his name which offers to do any job for anyone, from impersonating female maids to opera singers. To help with this, he is a master of disguise and is a bit of a kleptomaniac, which gets him into trouble from police chief Chantecler (a rooster) who often sends cat police inspector Tybalt after him to thwart his plans.
In 2005, a Luxembourg-based animation studio released an all CGI film titled Le Roman de Renart, based on the same fable.
Bosch (2014)
In 2016, Syfy's television series, The Magicians, Reynard is summoned accidentally and becomes an antagonist of the second season.
In literature
Title page from Flinzer's Reineke Fuchs (Glogau 1881)
British poet laureate John Masefield's poem "Reynard the Fox" (1920)[15] concerns a fox hunt that pursues the title character, who "could outlast horse and outrace hound."
Louis Paul Boon's novel Wapenbroeders (Brothers in Arms, 1955) is an extensive reworking of the whole tale.
Reynard the Fox makes a short but significant appearance at the end of The Magician King, when he is accidentally summoned.
Reynard, a genetically modified part-fox, is a major character in John Crowley's novel Beasts.
A human version of the character appears in David R. Witanowski's novel Reynard the Fox.[16]
A version of the character appears in Laurence Yep's A Dragon's Guide series as a shapeshifting, computer-hacking ally of the dragon Ms. Drake.
In art
Dutch modern artist Leonard van Munster made an installation titled "The surrender of Reynard the Fox".
German artist Johann Heinrich Ramberg made a series of 30 drawings which he also etched and published in 1825.[17]
In music
Reynard the Fox is the name of a number of traditional folk songs (Roud 190, 358 and 1868).
Renard is a one-act chamber opera-ballet by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1916, with text by the composer based on Russian folk tales from the collection by Alexander Afanasyev.
Julian Cope wrote a song called "Reynard the Fox" which he recorded on his 1984 album Fried.
Brass Monkey recorded a version of the song collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams as "The Foxhunt" (Roud 190) sung by Martin Carthy on their 1986 album See How It Runs.
Bevo, a popular U.S. brand of near beer, advertised with Reynard the Fox in the 1910s and 1920s.
In comics
Reynard is portrayed as a character in Gunnerkrigg Court as Reynardine, a fox demon who can possess "anything with eyes", including living beings and, in his current form, a plush wolf toy. Gunnerkrigg Court also has Ysengrin, an Ysengrim analog, as well as Coyote.
Reynard is portrayed as a character in Fables, as a smart and cunning fox who is loyal to Snow White and Fabletown, despite being one of the Fables segregated to the upstate New York "Farm" due to his non-human appearance. He initially appears as a physically normal fox, anthropomorphized only in his ability to think and speak as humans do; later, he is granted the ability to assume a handsome human appearance.
The French comic De cape et de crocs takes place in an alternative 17th century where anthropomorphic animals live among humans. One of the two main characters, Armand Raynal de Maupertuis, is a French fox based on Reynard while his companion, Don Lope de Villalobos y Sangrin, is a Spanish wolf based on Isengrim (which is spelled Ysengrin in French).
In video games
In the 2016 video game Stories: The Path of Destinies, the protagonist is an anthropomorphic fox named Reynardo. The plot centers around Reynardo's time-bending attempts to thwart an evil emperor, Isengrim (in this case an anthropomorphic frog, rather than a wolf), as the emperor attempts to sacrifice his adopted daughter to the old gods.
↑ Benton, Janetta Rebold (1 April 1997). Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings. Abbeville Press. p.83. ISBN978-0-7892-0182-9.
1 2 Bouwman, André; Besamusca, Bart (2009). Of Reynaert the Fox: Text and Facing Translation of the Middle Dutch Beast Epic Van Den Vos Reynaerde. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp.42–43. ISBN908964024X.
↑ Witanowski, David R. (13 August 2012). "Reynard the Fox". Calliope Press – via Amazon.
↑ "Reineke Fuchs. In 30 Blattern gezeichnet und radirt von Johann Heinrich Ramberg." Hannover 1826. New edition with colored prints 2016. Waltraud Maierhofer (ed.). Reineke Fuchs - Reynard the Fox. 31 Originalzeichnungen u. neu kolorierte Radierungen m. Auszügen aus d. deutschen Übersetzung des Epos im populären Stil v. Soltau | 31 original drawings and newly colored etchings with excerpts from the English translation of the burlesque poem by Soltau. VDG Weimar, 2016. ISBN978-3-89739-854-2
Bonafin, Massimo, Le malizie della volpe: Parola letteraria e motivi etnici nel Roman de Renart (Rome: Carocci editore, 2006) (Biblioteca Medievale Saggi). cf. here an abstract of this book & cf. here a review of this book unfortunately not yet translated in English.
Zebracki, Martin, Het grenzeloze land van Reynaerde [The boundless country of [the Fox] Reynaert]. Geografie 20 (2011: 2), pp.30–33.
Johann Heinrich Ramberg (artist), Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau (author), Waltraud Maierhofer (editor): "Reineke Fuchs – Reynard the Fox. 31 Originalzeichnungen u. neu kolorierte Radierungen m. Auszügen aus d. deutschen Übersetzung des Epos im populären Stil v. Soltau | 31 original drawings and newly colored etchings with excerpts from the English translation of the burlesque poem by Soltau." VDG Weimar, Weimar 2016. ISBN978-3-89739-854-2.
External links
Look up renard in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikisource has original works on the topic: Reynard
Reinardus, the journal for the International Reynard Society.
Anne Lair, "The History of Reynard the Fox: How Medieval Literature Reflects Culture," in: Falling into Medievalism, ed. Anne Lair and Richard Utz. Special Issue of UNIversitas: The University of Northern Iowa Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2.1 (2006).
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Related Research Articles
Tybalt is a character in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. He is the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-tempered first cousin, and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert/Tybalt the "Prince of Cats" in Reynard the Fox, a point of mockery in the play. Mercutio repeatedly calls Tybalt "Prince of Cats". Luigi da Porto adapted the story as Giulietta e Romeo and included it in his Historia novellamente ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti published in 1530. Da Porto drew on Pyramus and Thisbe and Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. Da Porto gave it much of its modern form, including the lovers' names, the rival families of Montecchi and Capuleti, and the location in Verona. He also introduces characters corresponding to Shakespeare's Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris. Da Porto presents his tale as historically true and claims it took place in the days of Bartolomeo II della Scala. Montague and Capulet were actual 13th-century political factions, but the only connection between them is a mention in Dante's Purgatorio as an example of civil dissension.
A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy. National epics frequently recount the origin of a nation, a part of its history, or a crucial event in the development of national identity such as other national symbols. In a broader sense, a national epic may simply be an epic in the national language which the people or government of that nation are particularly proud of. It is distinct from a pan-national epic which is taken as representative of a larger cultural or linguistic group than a nation or a nation-state.
Michel Rodange was a Luxembourgish writer and poet, best known for writing Luxembourg's national epic, Renert [full original title: Renert oder de Fuuß am Frack an a Ma'nsgrëßt].
The Tale of the Fox was stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film. The film is based on the tales of Renard the Fox. Although the animation was finished in Paris after an 18-month period (1929-1930), there were major problems with adding a soundtrack to the film. Finally, funding was given for a German soundtrack by the UFA -- Goethe had written a classic version of the Renard legend—and this version had its premiere in Berlin in April 1937.
The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, especially European and East Asian folklores, as a figure of cunning or trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers. The fox is also sometimes associated with transformation. This folkore root has resulted in many influenced works, in literature, film, television, games, and music, and elsewhere.
Beast poetry, in the context of European literature and medieval studies, refers to a corpus of poems written in Latin from the 8th to the 11th century.
Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics, legends, fairy tales and oral traditions of the people of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Traditionally this folklore is written or spoken in Dutch.
French folklore encompasses the fables, folklore and fairy tales and legends of the French people.
Chanticleer and the Fox is a fable that dates from the Middle Ages. Though it can be compared to Aesop's fable of The Fox and the Crow, it is of more recent origin. The story became well known in Europe because of its connection with several popular literary works and was eventually recorded in collections of Aesop's Fables from the time of Heinrich Steinhowel and William Caxton onwards. It is numbered 562 in the Perry Index.
Johann Heinrich Ramberg was a German painter and printmaker.
An animal tale or beast fable generally consists of a short story or poem in which animals talk. It is a traditional form of allegorical writing.
Talking animals are a common theme in mythology and folk tales, as well as children's literature. Fictional talking animals often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities but appearing as a creature. The usage of talking animals enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children.
"The Moon is made of green cheese" is a statement referring to a fanciful belief that the Moon is composed of cheese. In its original formulation as a proverb and metaphor for credulity with roots in fable, this refers to the perception of a simpleton who sees a reflection of the Moon in water and mistakes it for a round cheese wheel. It is widespread as a folkloric motif among many of the world's cultures, and the notion has also found its way into children's folklore and modern popular culture.
Van den vos Reynaerde is the Middle Dutch version of the story of Reynard, as written by Willem die Madoc maecte. The poem dates from around 1250. It is considered a major work of Middle Dutch literature and has been called "the pinnacle of Gothic literature in the Netherlands."
The Ecbasis captivi is an anonymous Latin beast fable that probably dates to the middle of the 11th century, and was likely written in the Vosges region of France. It is the oldest example of a European beast fable to survive, and the first medieval European example of anthropomorphic animals. The poem is written in hexameters with Leonine internal rhyme frequently used throughout the poem. The text survives in two manuscripts, both of which now are at the Royal Library of Belgium.
Isegrim or Isegrimm may refer to:
Willem die Madoc maecte is the traditional designation of the author of Van den vos Reynaerde, a Middle Dutch version of the story of Reynard the Fox.
Ernst Eduard Martin was a German philologist of Romance and Germanic studies. He was the son of gynecologist Eduard Arnold Martin (1809–1875).
