Vulpes
The Fox
A fox sneaks into town, but is caught inside the gates at nightfall. Feigning death in attempt to escape detection, the fox withstands one abuse after another for a while - its tail is cut off for a brush, an old woman plucks out its eye for a talisman, etcetera - but when it faces life-threatening injury, the fox can no longer lie still and leaps up to run away.
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Nishimura notes relevant motifs and analogues for this fable: Motifs: TMI K522: Escape by shamming death; ATU33: The fox plays dead and is thrown out of the pit and escapes. Analogues, references: Dai Chido-ron, 14.23 (Taishozo 25, 162c~163a. Julien, No.23); Pantschâkhjâna-Wârttika, 41 ‘Der Schakal, der Bulle und die Tiere des Waldes‘; Attar, The Ilahi Nama or Book of God, 14.10: 'Story of the fox that was caught in a trap’; Conde Lucanor, 29 ‘Wie es einem Fuchs, der sich tot stellte, ergangen‘; Ruiz, The Book of Good Love, 1412-1420. In Le Roman de Renart, lines 501-522 of 16: ‘The Story of Renart’s Framing of Isanglan in the Well’, a wolf pretends to be dead and runs away. Bibliography: Chauvin VIII 29; Landau 35. |
| Critical Literature |
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| Nishimura (2001), Clouston (1884), Epstein (1967) |
| Vulpes appears in the following versions and secondary versions |
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| Vulpes is narrated in the following occurrences | ||||
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| Vulpes appears in the following manuscripts |
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