Line #63 Literature/ReynardTheFox


1	[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reynaertcloseup_4947.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:262: Statue of Reynard in Hulst, the Netherlands.]]
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4	''Reynard the Fox'' is a series of Northern/Western European medieval folklore tales about a KarmicTrickster fox named [[DubNameChange Reynard/Renart/Reineke/Reintje/Reynaert]]. In all variations of the story Reynard is depicted as a [[CunningLikeAFox cunning fox]] who has engaged in so many criminal deeds that the Royal court of King Nobel the lion wants to bring him to justice. He sends out one animal at the time to arrest Reynard and bring him to court, but all attempts go horribly wrong. Bruun the Bear is tricked by Reynard, who tells him there's honey inside a tree. As Bruun peeps inside he gets stuck. Tybeert the cat is also tricked by sending him to a chicken coop, owned by a local priest. Reynard locks Tybeert inside and the noise alarms the priest, who beats Tybeert out. The cat does get his revenge by [[GroinAttack biting off one of the priest's testicles]].
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6	Eventually Reynard's cousin, Grimbeert, a badger, manages to bring Reynard before King Nobel. There the fox once again fools everybody by claiming that Isegrym the wolf, Bruun, Tybeert, Grimbeert and even Reynard's dad have plotted against the king and kept a treasure hidden from him of whom only Reynard knows the hiding place. When the king frees Reynard he will show where it is hidden. Reynard flees and claims to go on pilgrimage to Rome. Cuwart the hare and Belyn the ram go along to his home. He asks Cuwart to come inside with him while Belyn waits outside. Reynard murders the hare, chops his head off and puts it inside a bag he gives to Belyn with the message to bring it to the king. Belyn does so and is executed. By the time everyone realizes they have been fooled again Reynard has already fled.
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8	The stories are interesting because of their satirical content. The feudal system and the power of the CorruptChurch are lampooned.
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10	There have been several adaptations of the story throughout history. We only list the full story adaptations here, not brief shout-outs, parodies or propaganda works.
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12	* Nivardus' ''Ysengrinus'' (1148-1153): Written by a man from Gent, Flanders (nowadays in Belgium), but in Latin.
13	* Pierre de St. Cloud's ''Le Roman de Renart'' (1174, sequel in 1179): Written in French.
14	* Heinrich der Glïchezäre's ''Reinhart Fuchs'' (1180): Written in German. Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe would later base his poem ''Reineke Fuchs'' on this text.
15	* Willem die Madoc Maecte's ''Van den vos Reynaerde'' (1260): Written in Dutch by a Flemish man from presumably Eastern Flanders (nowadays Belgium)
16	* William Caxton's ''The Historie of Reynart the Foxe'' (1485): A text in medieval English, translated from the Dutch/Flemish version.
17	* Michel Rodange's ''Rénert the Fox'' (1872): a Luxembourgeois text, adapted from the Dutch original, which sets the story in Luxembourg. It has gained classic status in the country for using regional and sub-regional dialects to depict the fox and his companions.
18	* Ladislas Starevich's ''Le Roman de Renard'' (1937): a French black-and-white stop-motion animated film based on the story with design elements based on classic Russian puppetry. Notably, it is one of the earliest known animated feature films, predating Disney's ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
19	* Creator/AndreNorton's ''Rogue Reynard'' (1947): Written in very archaic English. Shows him as a straight-up VillainProtagonist.
20	* The 1986 French animated series ''WesternAnimation/MoiRenart'' ("I, Reynard") from France. It has a SettingUpdate in modern-day Paris (as in, TheEighties) and has the cast as [[BeastMan fully anthro characters]].
21	* The 1989 animated film ''WesternAnimation/ReynardTheFox'' (''Reineke Fuchs'') from Germany.
22	* The 2005 animated film ''Renart the Fox'' (''Le Roman de Renart'') from Luxembourg, also known in some markets as ''Renny the Fox'', features the hero as being married with two children, stealing to provide a better life for his family, going on a quest for a treasure, and facing execution when he is framed for killing a henhouse full of chickens.
23	* Marc Legendre's ''Reynaert De Vos'' (2010): A Belgian comic book adaptation of the work.
24	* David R. Witanowski's 2011-2013 ''Literature/TheReynardCycle,'' a series of LowFantasy adaptations featuring human beings rather than animals.
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26	----
27	!! ''Reynard'' provides examples of:
28	* AdaptationNameChange: Geoffrey Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale" changes Reynard's name to Russell and Pinte's name to Pertelote in his adaptation of ''Si comme Renart prist Chanticler le Coq''.
29	* AllWomenAreLustful: All female characters in this story are represented as lewd and debauched.
30	* AmbiguouslyBi: Reynard is accused of having ''read the credo'' with Cuward the hare, which apparently had him sit behind the hare while they both held the book together. In medieval images of this scene it's clear that this is an allegory for sodomy. However, he's also married, and has children.
31	* AnimalJingoism: Reynard the fox and Ysegrim the wolf are rivals.
32	* AnimalMotifs: The animals are representative of humans.
33	* AnimalStereotypes: A cunning fox, a lion who is king, a posh little dog, a hungry wolf...
34	* AnyoneCanDie: Quite a few characters get painfully hurt, killed or eaten.
35	* AristocratsAreEvil: Many animals at the royal court are corrupt buffoons.
36	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Reynard respects Grimbeert the badger because he is his cousin (or nephew, depending on the translation). In reality foxes and badgers are not related to each other.
37	* BeastFable: The stories are a mirror of medieval society and depict it in a satirical way.
38	* BigEater: Reynard tricks all animals by promising them food and in their greediness they don't think twice about it.
39	* BlackComedyRape: Reynard has raped Ysegrim's wife, though in the original Dutch/Flemish text the word ''verhoerd'' has a double connotation meaning both ''made into a whore'' as well as ''answered my prayers'', so it appears that she might even have invited him to do so. Later it is also claimed that Reynard ''read the Catholic credo'' with Cuward the hare by sitting behind him and holding the same book, a thinly veiled allusion to sodomy.
40	* BuriedTreasure: Reynard claims a treasure is buried somewhere and only he knows where!
41	* ButtMonkey: Well... everybody, except for Reynard.
42	* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: Several animals get hurt or killed.
43	* CivilizedAnimal: The royal court is comprised of civilized animals.
44	* ConspiracyKitchenSink and ConspiracyTheorist: The notorious KarmicTrickster Reynard thinks up a conspiracy against the royal court and accuses everybody who tried to arrest him of being accomplices in the crime. Nobody questions his tale that rather conveniently gets rid of everybody who stood in his way.
45	* ConsummateLiar: Everything Reynard says is a lie.
46	* CorruptChurch:
47	** In ''Ysengrimus'' Ysengrim the wolf is a greedy and easily led astray priest. He tells people: "Commit whatever sins you please: you will be absolved if you can pay." Near the end of the story his skin is stripped off and thrown to a pig.
48	** In the Dutch/Flemish version, ''Van den Vos Reynaerde'' the local Catholic priest is married. One of his testicles is later bitten off by Tybald the cat. His wife is highly disappointed by this and cries that she will have to miss their ''sweet game'' from now on. Reynard just jokes that "the one remaining will be sufficient to keep on doing it."
49	%%* CrapsackWorld: In the antropomorphic animal setting. %% Zero Context Example
50	* CulturalTranslation: The stories were popular enough to be translated into many Western European languages.
51	* CunningLikeAFox: Reynard also manages to fool everybody.
52	* CunningLinguist: In one tale, Ysengrim tells Reynard that he's fluent in [[MythologyGag French, Latin, English, and Dutch]].
53	* DogsAreDumb: Curtise the dog is described as particularly dim-witted and gullible even by the standards of Reynard's foes. For example, he complains that Reynard ate one of his sausages. Later it turns out he actually ate it himself.
54	* DownerEnding: The king is humiliated, most of the characters have been murdered, executed or badly bruised and Reynard has escaped.
55	* DubNameChange: ''Le Roman de Renart'' in French (the French word ''Renard'' eventually meant ''fox'' following the popularity of the book), ''Reineke Fuchs'' in German, ''Van De Vos Reynaerde'' in Dutch. The [[Literature/KalilaAndDimna Kalila and Dimna]] stories are essentially the Middle Eastern version of Reynard the Fox. They're about [[GuileHero two wily jackals]] who sometimes work as viziers to the king ([[KingOfBeasts a lion, of course]]).
56	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Grimbeert the badger defends Reynard until the end, but is eventually betrayed by him like all the others.
57	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Reynard seems to genuinely care about his wife and children, though apparently not enough to stay faithful.
58	* EvilVersusEvil: Reynard and Isengrim. Isengrim is the villain of the story, but Reynard is not any better.
59	* EyeScream: Reynard urinated in the eyes of Isegrim's children after ravaging his wife, with his urine scorching their eyes and leaving them permanently blinded.
60	* FantasticFoxes: It's amazing what this fox can do without getting caught or punished.
61	* TheFarmerAndTheViper: The animals defend Reynard, only to be fooled and humilated by him.
62	* FoulFox: Reynard is a VillainProtagonist whose only real saving grace is that most of his enemies are no better than him.
63	* FrenchJerk: In the Dutch/Flemish version Curtise the posh dog is identified as French, as was common with the noblemen in those days.
64	* GroinAttack: Tibeert attacks the priest's crotch and bites off one of his testicles.
65	* HomeBase: Reynard's home is a castle named ''Maupertuis'' (sometimes also ''Malpertuis'') where he has all kinds of secret passageways to trick visitors.
66	* InconsistentSpelling: Reynard's name has been spelled differently in many languages, partly because there was no standard spelling in the Middle Ages. This also applies to the rest of the characters' names as well.
67	%%* {{Jerkass}}: Reynard. %% Zero Context Example
68	%%* KarmaHoudini: Reynard %% Zero Context Example
69	* KarmicTrickster: Reynard the fox is a notorious liar, thief, traitor, murderer, rapist and adulterous sleazeball who is never punished for his deeds and even manages to escape in the end. Though in the UrExample of the story, ''Ysengrimus'' Ysengrimus the wolf manages to trick Reynard once at the start of the story.
70	* KingOfBeasts: King Nobel is a lion who rules over the animal kingdom.
71	* ALizardNamedLiz: This became the case for Reynard retroactively in French. Foxes were named ''goupil'' at the time, but since foxes were feared, farmers considered it bad luck to name them. Therefore ''renard'' was used as a euphemism, and as often happens with taboo words it replaced the old word in modern French. The only way in French to distinguish the character from the species is the fact that the character is written ''Renart'' while the species is called ''renard''.
72	* MatureAnimalStory: The content is definitely not child friendly.
73	* MeaningfulName: The priest's wife is named ''Julocke'' in the Dutch/Flemish version, which is derived from "Jou lok ik" ("It's you whom I call/seduce").
74	%% * MurderersAreRapists: In Reynard's case.
75	* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: Reynard has raped both a woman and a man, but in both cases it's kind of ambiguous, because they apparently enjoyed it.
76	* PlayingPossum: A frequent technique of Reynard's whenever he wants to get close to someone without arousing suspicion.
77	* ReluctantPsycho: At least twice Reynard honestly confesses his crimes to Grimbeert, and the second time mentions that while his conscience always bothered him after committing such cruel acts, he finds that he is unable to stop himself. Of course, this could just be him lying again.
78	* RuleOfThree: The first two attempts to arrest Reynard fail, the third one succeeds.
79	* SarcasticConfession: When Grimbeert leads Reynard to the royal court the fox pretends he wants to repent and confesses all the things he did Isegrim, though he thoroughly enjoys thinking back at all those horrid deeds.
80	* {{Satire}}: The Dutch medieval version by Willem die Madocke Maecte was a satire of medieval society.
81	* ScarsAreForever: The animals who are wounded remain so.
82	* StockAnimalDiet: The bear is tricked by believing there is honey inside a tree.
83	* StockAnimalName: ''Reynard'' and ''Chanticleer'' have become the stock name for respectively foxes and roosters. ''Bruin'' has become a stock name for bears in Dutch. Less common, but worth mentioning is ''Tybalt'' for cats. The English StockAnimalName ''Tibbles'' for cats is derived from Tybalt. Calling a lion ''Nobel'' has also become common thanks to these stories. Reynard became such a popular name for foxes after the tales that the modern French word for fox actually ''is'' renard. The previous French word "goupil" is now archaic.
84	* TalkingAnimal: All animals talk.
85	* TemptingFate: Despite enough examples to the contrary all animals still believe everything Reynard says to them... with dire consequences.
86	* VillainProtagonist: Reynard is the protagonist, but hardly an admirable character.
87	* WalkingTheEarth: Reynard manages to go ''on a pilgrimage'' in the wide world.
88	* WouldHurtAChild: Reynard has no qualms about pissing Ysegrim's children blind.

Context Literature / ReynardTheFox