King Leo held court and required all the animals to attend. Reynard the Fox did not attend, because he knew he was guilty of numerous offences. Isengrim the Wolf complained to the king that Reynard had broken into his house and urinated on his children in an attempt to blind them. He had stolen a sausage in the middle of winter from a dog. He had told Cuwaert the Hare that he would teach him the (Nicene) Creed, and had him put his head betweed his legs and say “Creed, creed!”, at which point he tried to bite his head off. Grimbart the Badger, Reynard’s cousin, tried to help by offering stories where Reynard had been wronged, especially by Isengrim, but then Chaunticleer the Cockerel came in with his dead hen, whose head had been bitten by Reynard.

The king sent Bruin the Bear with a summons. When he found the fox, Reynard said it was a pity that he had to go to the king, because he was going to collect several barrels of fine honey. Bruin said that appealed to him, and Reynard graciously offered several barrels to him. So Bruin insisted on going right away, and Reynard led him to a nearby farm, where there was a tree with two branches held open by a wedge. He told Bruin to stick his head in-between and sample the honey, then he knocked out the wedge. Reynard left, and the noise Bruin made brough the farmers round, and they almost killed Bruin, who survived only by leaving his face and front “shoes” behind.

He returned to the king and accused Reynard. The king sent Tybert the Cat, known for his wisdom, with the second summons. Reynard suggested Tybert stay the night and have a good meal of honeycomb and he would go with the next day. Tybert could not care less for honey, but opined he did love mice. “Oh, well there’s a priest nearby who has tons of mice in his barn.” So they went, and Reynard showed Tybert the hold and urged him to go in and get his fill of mice (“Can’t you hear them squeaking?”) Tybert thought this was incautious, but Reynard shamed him into going in, and he was caught in a trap that the priest had set to catch the fox that had been stealing his hens. His cries alerted the priest and his family, who came, and in the ensuing struggle Tybert was beaten and lost and eye, and the priest lost a “stone”, with his wife lamenting over that. Reynard mocked her and said one “stone” was certainly sufficient.

Grimbart offered to give the third and final summons to the fox, despite the apparent dangers. He told Reynard that the king was going to bring out the army if he did not go to the court, and then he and all his family would be killed. So Reynard went. On the way he confessed to Grimbart everything he had done, and asked for absolution. Grimbart (who was not a priest) told him to hit himself a couple of times with a branch, and absolved his sins. After this Reynard kept eyeing the chickens, and even tried, and failed, to catch one, which made Grimbart say that he needed to act repentent. Reynard apologized and said that his sin nature got the better of him.

At court Reynard was sentenced to death. He said he wanted to get it over with quickly, and advised Tybert and Isengrim on how to fix up the hanging, and please get this all over with. When it was ready, he said he had wronged everyone there and asked to make confession, so that his soul would be at peace. He started saying that he’d grown up playing with the lambs and had bitten one accidentally and learned to have a taste for blood and it went downhill from there. He told how he partnered with Isengrim in killing, but said the wolf was such a good friend that he took both his and the fox’s shares. Reynard said that he did not mind it, because he had such great treasure.

The king was greedy and wanted the treasure, so he asked about it. Reynard said that his father had found King Ermeric’s treasure buried in a pit. He hatched a plot with Tybert, Isengrim, Grimbart, and Bruin to overthrow the king and crown Bruin with King Ermeric’s crown. Grimbart had indescreetly told his wife the plot while, drunk, and several gossipy wives later, Reynard learned of it. He said he thought King Leo was a much worthier king that Bruin, so he watched his father and stole his father’s treasure. They hired soldiers, telling them to go to Bruin for their pay, but then it turned out that there was no money. But Bruin and Isengrim were high with the king and angry at Reynard, while Reynard had acted in the king’s best interest.

The king and queen asked if he would tell them were the treasure was, but he said that he could not tell traitors (Isengrim and Bruin), nor could he tell the king who wanted to hang him. The queen noted that he had implicated his father and nephew, so which he would not do if he weren’t telling the truth. So they pardoned Reynard, and he told them the location. They asked him to guide them there, which he said he would certainly be glad to, but Isengrim his nephew had become a monk, but then did not like the (plain) food, so Reynard had pity on him and said he should leave. Because he had advised someone to leave Holy Orders, the Pope put a ban on him, and so he could not travel to France where the treasure was until he did penance to the Pope. The king and queen were pleased at his desire to right his wrongs, and offered to help him in his pilgrimage. He requested two “shoes” each from Isengrim and his wife Arswind, and the queen thought that this was very reasonable.

The king, queen, and court accompanied Reynard a little way, and after that Reynard invited Cuwaert and Bellin the Ram to accompany him, because they were so good travelling companions. (The fox’s standing was also quite high at court and everyone wanted to be his friend.) So they came to Wickedhole, the fox’s home. He invited Cuwaert come in and help him say goodbye to his wife Ermilyn. Inside, he killed Cuwaert and give him to Ermilyn and the children to eat. He said they should flee because his friendship with the king was likely to be a bit thin when he found out what had happened, but Ermilyn said that they knew the neighborhood and he was a lord here, and going to a strange forest had no advantages. So he said he would figure out how to deal with the king if it came to that.

When Reynard exited, Bellin said heard Cuwaert cry out, but Reynard assured him that his wife had fainted and that was the reason. He told Bellin to go back to the king with Reynard’s pilgrim pouch and some letters, and suggested that if he told the king that he had written the letters himself he would be well admired at the court. Reynard would tell Cuwaert some secrets and send him along later.

Back at court, Bellin proudly said he had letters from Reynard, said he had written them for Reynard at his request and opined that the king would never find more well-written letters. Inside was the head of Cuwaert. The king was very angry and condemned Bellin for killing Cuwaert. He released Isengrim and Bruin, his two best barons, from prison, and gave Bellin and his family to Isengrim to hunt in compensation for wrongly imprisoning him. To this day Isengrim the Wolf and his family hunt Bellin the Ram’s family.

The king held another feast, and again Reynard thought his presence might not be appreciated. Midway through, Lepreel the Rabbit complained to the king that Reynard, dressed as a pilgrim, and tripped him as he walked by and tried unsuccessfully to grab him and kill him, but only got his ear. After that, Corbant the Crow told that king that he and his wife had come across Reynard looking dead. His wife had poked him with no response, and then listened for breathing. But when she got close enough, Reynard grabbed her and devoured her, bones and all. He said that ia king needed to give justice otherwise his reputation would be ruined.

The king was quite angry, and said that he had been foolish to follow his wife’s advice, something which had tripped up other men before him, and condemned Reynard. His wife said that he needed to hear both sides, and the leopard advised that it was wise to do so, and if Reynard was indeed found guilty, he should be punished only so much as the law says. The king agreed and said he would beseige Reynard in six days, so Grimbart went to Reynard and told him. Reynard invited him in (“but don’t say anything about court to my wife, she’s fragile and can’t handle it”), they three of them enjoyed some pigeons and they slept for the night. Except Reynard, who wondered how he was going to get out of it.

He confessed to Grimbart again, bemoaning how his passions were so overpowering, and was again absolved. Grimbart suggested that perhaps Reynard should be the priest, though, since he was so wise in knowing the world. At court, the king was cross and sarcastic with Reynard.

Reynard assured the king that he was a most loyal servant, desiring only the king’s good. In fact, the rabbit had been on the way to the king and asked Reynard for something to eat, so he gave him a slice of good bread, since he was fasting for Pentecost. The rabbit ate it all and when his child asked for his share, the rabbit cuffed him and made him bleed, whereupon his child had bitten the rabbit out of anger and hunger, and now the rabbit was blaming it on him. Similarly, the crow’s wife had eaten too many maggots, which had eaten through her throat and killed her, and the crow had complained about it to him, and how was blaming it on him. At this point Lepreel and Corbant became dispirited and afraid, and let the court. He had wanted to go to court, so one of his ape cousins said he would go see his friend Simon[y] at the papal court and get everything sorted out [by exchange of silver] about his ban. He invited anyone who had something to say against him to say it, and noted how the crow and rabbit did not bother to come forward. The king said that did not explain what had happened to Cuwaert, which Bellin had told the king about personally. Reynard was silent and afraid.

Fortunately, his aunt, Rukenawe the She-Ape, came to his rescue, because she did not like how things were going. If Reynard went down, things could be bad for his relations. She recounted how Reynard had wisely advised the court in the past, as had his father. For instance, in the case of a viper that was stuck in a trap and pulled out by a man after the viper promised not to bite him. Later the viper went to bite the man because he was very hungry. The man protested that he was breaking his vow, but the viper said that the necessity of hunger nullified his vow. They took the dispute you, my lord king, and you were perplexed because on the one hand, you could not uphold the snake because then the man would die for his generosity, but on the other hand, self-preservation is a valid reason to break an oath. Reynard, your loyal servant suggested they go back to the beginning. He put the viper back in the trap and the man next to it, and said now they both could make the decision again with better information. And so he solved your quandry and did you a service.

Then Reynard told how he had two great treasures, a ring which granted greatness in battle, a comb with a wondrous scent that brought peace and with side panels that illustrated famous classical stories (which he related), and a mirror that that revealed less highbrow but also instructive stories (also related). He said he desired to give them to the king, and sent them with Cuwaert, but the treasures were so amazing—my lord the king is the only one worthy of such treasures—that anyone would desire them, and thus Cuwaert met an untimely end as he travelled to give them to you.

Then Isengrim accused Reynard of telling his wife how to catch fish on the frozen river by leaving her tail in it, and when it had frozen over and she was stuck, he took advantage of her. Reynard counted by saying that he was trying to free her, it just looked bad. Isengrim challenged him to trial by combat, and Reynard was forced to eagerly accept.

His aunt was very canny, and had him shave all his fur and put grease all over his body so he would be very slippery. Also, to drink a lot of water a little before and then urinate on his tail. At every opportunity, he should slap his tail against the wolf’s eyes to attempt to blind him.

The next morning the came back to the court and the king cleared an area for combat. They fought for a long time. The wolf was larger and stronger, but he was still sore from having his front “shoes” removed, and the fox kept slapping him in the eyes with his urine-tail and then scuffing the ground to stir up dirt. Plus he would slip under the wolf and was hard to grab. For a while Reynard kept nipping at the wolf and he was hard put, but then the wolf got in some good bites and Reynard was close to the end. In trying to escape, Reynard’s paw ended up in the wolf’s mouth, so Reynard tried to save his life by offering to acknowledge the wolf’s truth and accept his punishment, but the wolf was very angry. While the wolf was speaking in anger, Reynard was scheming, and grabbed the wolf’s private parts and twisted, putting him in such pain that he opened his mouth to yelp and release Reynard’s paw. The wolf was in such pain that Reynard was able to pounce on him and drag him around. So the king declared that Reynard had won.

Then, by virtue of having been proved innocent, the king restored to Reynard his position as chief adviser. Thus the situation turned out well for Reynards relatives, and Reynard planned to reward them with some of the spoils of the office.

Reynard the Fox was a very popular book in the Middle Ages, and this is a translation from William Caxton’s fifteenth century English (which is itself a translation from the Dutch version of the stories). The age of actual kings is long gone, but this work captures some of the flavor of the time. In particular, it highlights how the king’s court is a very relationship-oriented place. Justice is decided by the king, and he has to occasionally be persuaded to actually do justice (that is, let Reynard tell his side of the story), rather than give in to the king. The king also is expected to dispense justice, but all he has to go on are two people’s stories, thus how Reynard helped him out by resolving the dispute between the asp and the human. Similarly, after it becomes obvious that Reynard tricked him, in addition to being angry at being tricked, it also impacts the king’s reputation for giving justice, which is essential to being seen as a legitimate ruler. So in the second summons, Reynard has to come up with a way to let the king save face, in addition to saving his own skin.

This context also makes trial by combat more sensible. In the climax, Isengrim accuses the fox of violating his wife, which we know he has, in fact, done, as he “confessed” (bragged, really) it to Grimbart on his first journey to the court. However, he tells a good story and there is no way to decide. So Isengrim has to resort to a more structured version of what the Icelandic sagas called something like “self justice” (that is, regaining one’s honor by killing the offender, usually due to the offender having murdured). The court has no way to decide the matter, so the aggrieved can fight it out under certain rules, including that the accused has to opportunity to refuse.

The book also highlights the importance of proximity to the king, both in position and in goodwill, is very important, because the king can just wipe out your family—as happened to Bellin the Ram. I think this is part of the reason Reynard’s extended family helps him out: they will share in some of his disgrace, but his elevation will give them higher access to the king, and both protection from and power over their enemies at court. It also provides the opportunity for someone who is a slick talker and manipulates their target’s vices to get ahead at the expense of others.

Similarly it demonstrates the importance of family networks. In both cases, family relations inform Reynard that the the king is really going to do something about him if he does not do something. Likewise the she-ape was crucial in ensuring that Reynard had a chance to defend himself in court, as well as crafty techniques to win the fight.

I found the stories somewhat distasteful. Unlike the Br’er Rabbit stories, where the rabbit is usually (but not always) innocent, the fox is aggressive. He preys on the people under him, although it seems likely that he is also preyed upon by his enemies at court. The fox is a liar and completely unrepentent. Furthermore, he does not just get away with murder (e.g. Cuwaert the Hare), but also twists the situation and ruins his enemies at the same time.

So why was this book so popular that it went through dozens of printings by Caxton, and even Caxton himself gives a postscript saying that fox-humans now dominate the world and that this is not a good situation. One could argue that Caxton is putting the corruption of the system on public view, which is possible, but does not seem liking to give insatiable cravings to buy the book. A more likely explanation comes from observing that the entire court are preditors, so no one is in the right. From the standpoint of someone far below the court, all the nobility are taking advantage of people like you, as well as of each other, so no love lost, love to see a good come-uppance. Although the fox is also nobility, he is minor nobility—and clever—so we root for him, because the greater nobility are even worse.

It does give fuller body to some of the Biblical writing, which also had to deal with the personal power of a monarch. Some of the proverbs advise being very careful around the king, and through Reynard we see the danger of not only the king, but his court. There are also a number of psalms that lament that the wicked—basically everyone in the book, by the biblical standard—prosper and ask God to provide justice, even assuring us that in the long run they will be destroyed. When the unscrupulous can take someone’s land with a good argument to the king, you can see why these psalms would get written.