Reynard

Reynard the Fox, also known as Renard, Renart, Reinard, Reinecke, Reinhardus, and by many other spelling variations, is a trickster figure whose tale is told in a number of anthropomorphic fables from medieval Europe.

In medieval European folklore and literature

He seems to have originated in French folklore. An extensive treatment of the character is the Old French Le Roman de Renart from around 1175, 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, Tibert (Tybalt) the Cat, and Hirsent the She-wolf, appear to give testimony against him, which Reynard always proves false by one stratagem or another. The stories typically involve satire whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character. Reynart's principal castle, Maleperduys, 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 features Reynard's posthumous revenge.

Reynard appears first in the medieval Latin poem Ysengrimus, a long Latin mock-epic from around 1149 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.

Geoffrey Chaucer used Reynard material in the Canterbury Tales; in the "Nonne Preestes Tale", Reynard appears as "Rossel" and an ass as "Brunel". In 1485 William Caxton printed The Historie of Reynart the Foxe, which was translated from a Flemish version of the fables. The character of Tybalt in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is named for the character Tibert/Tybalt the "Prince of Cats" in Reynard the Fox. Goethe, also, dealt with Reynard in his fable Reinecke Fuchs. Reynard is also referenced in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight during the third hunt.

Modern treatment

Rénert the Fox

Rénert the Fox was published in 1872 by Michel Rodange, a Luxembourgish author. An epic satirical work, an adaptation of the traditional Flemish/Low German fox epic to a setting in Luxembourg, 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.

Stravinsky's Renard

In 1916 Igor Stravinsky composed Renard (aka The Fox), "histoire burlesque cantée et jouée" (burlesque in song and dance), a one-act chamber opera-ballet. Stravinsky's text was in Russian, and based on Russian folk tales from the collection by Alexander Afanasyev.

Vixen Sharpears - The cunning little Vixen

Rudolf Těsnohlídek's 1920 Liška Bystrouška ("Vixen Sharpears", a comic in a Brno newspaper) provided a female version of "Reynard". The story was taken up by Leoš Janáček, turning it into an opera, The Cunning Little Vixen (1923). In 2003, the BBC produced and animated film version of Janáček's opera.Released on DVD by Opus Arte, OA 0839 D

In Max Brod's German translation of the opera, the Vixen's counterpart introduces himself as "Reineke aus dem Stamm der Herrn von Goldentupf von und zu Tiefengrund", where "Reineke" is of course Reynard, and the rest of the make-believe noble title a reference to the foxes golden hairs ("Goldentupf"), and obscure provenance ("zu Tiefengrund", translated as from Deep Hollow).Brod's "translation" wasn't too literal, Janáček's original Czech version of the fox's introduction rather translates as "Goldmane, curly-tufted dogfox from Deep Hollow", so less explicitly tying with the Reynard tales. An account of Brod's tendency to add connotations and symbols in his German versions of Janáček's operas and of Janáček's partial appreciation of such modifications can be found in John Tyrell's Janáček's Operas, 1992, ISBN 0571151299

Other adaptations, versions and references

In movies and television series

Ladislas Starevich's 1937 puppet-animated feature film, Le Roman de Renard (The Tale of the Fox) featured the Reynard character as the protagonist.

The documentary film "The Black Fox" (1962) parallels Hitler's rise to power with the Reynard fable.

Disney produced an anthropomorphic animated version of Robin Hood in which Robin and Maid Marian were depicted as foxes, and other characters from the tale depicted as other animals (including a wolf as Sheriff of Nottingham and lions as both Prince John and King Richard). This treatment would also appear to owe something to the Reynard trickster fables.

In 1985, a French animated series, "Moi Renart" (I, Reynard) was created which was loosely based on Reynard's tales. In it, the original animals are anthropomorphic humanoid 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 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, Hirsent. 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 into Paris, he creates a small company at his name where he 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 trouble from police chief Chantecler (a rooster) who often sends to him police cat inspector Tybalt in order to thwart his plans.

In 2005 a Luxemburg based animation studio released an all CGI film titled "Le Roman de Renart", obviously based on the same fable.

In literature and comic strips

In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, there is a character resembling Reynard.

British novelist Michael Moorcock introduced Lord Renyard, a man-sized talking fox, well-versed in 18th Century Encyclopedist philosophy, in his 1986 fantasy "The City in the Autumn Stars".

In the Fables comic book, Reynard the Fox is one of the non-human Fables who lives on "the Farm"---the part of Fabletown reserved for Fables who cannot pass as normal humans, due to its secluded location in upstate New York State. He is opposed to the attempted overthrow of the Fabletown government, and works with Snow White---saving her life while flirting with her mercilessly. Although Snow White offers him no encouragement, he continues to hope for a relationship with her.

In the Swedish children's comic Bamse, a new villain is introduced in Issue 7 (2006): a fox named Reinard, who attempts to impress other ne'er-do-wells with his cunning trickery (including dispatching hero Bamse to a remote region of Sweden so that he can pursue a museum raid without hindrance).

In music

Julian Cope, a rock musician whose work often incorporates British Isles folklore, titled a song after Reynard on his album Fried.

Scottish indie/country band Country Teasers have a song titled "Reynard The Fox" on their 1999 album, Destroy All Human Life. (Fat Possum Records)

In French

The patrimonial French word for "fox" was goupil from Latin vulpecula. However, mentioning the fox was considered bad luck among farmers. Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard was often used as an euphemism to the point that today renard is the standard French word for "fox" and goupil is now dialectal or archaic.