Fox Folklore

[kniteracy]

Someone out there must know something about fox folklore in Europe and the British Isles. I have done half a dozen web searches tonight, and most of the references I am coming up with relate to Japanese and Chinese folklore. While I appreciate that there is a lot of very good fox folklore out there from Japan particularly, I'm specifically looking for tales, stories, folklore, little bits of folk knowledge from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, etc. I'd be curious about American folklore that wasn't specifically related to Native American culture.

It doesn't have to be researched or in a book: if your old granny had a story about foxes you've never heard from anybody else, or your aunty believed something odd about foxes, tell me about it! :)

Comments

[aunty_marion]

I assume you've done all the usual googling and seen things like this?

[aunty_marion]

And, on reading that, I have actually seen the bit about the fox getting rid of its fleas somewhere else, a long time ago.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Jesus. What did you google to get that? My search engine fu is seriously lacking tonight.

I blame frustration.

[aunty_marion]

foxes + folklore, and clicked the 'pages from the UK' button. That was about the fourth item down the list, I think.

[aunty_marion]

More links:
http://www.quantavolution.org/vol_08/mm_loveaffair_3_14.htm (near the bottom, the story of Chicken Licken and the Sky is Falling)

http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/fox-hunting-and-the-ban/features/the-fox-as-a-character-finished

http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/black_fox.htm (same site as the first one I found, but another page and another story)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

We know a song about that: "The arching sky is falling..." *g*.

very famous old children's song

[nelladarren.livejournal.com]

Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen
Gib sie wieder her,
Gib sie wieder her!
Sonst muss dich der Jäger holen
Mit dem Schießgewehr
Sonst muss dich der Jäger holen
Mit dem Schießgewehr

(loose translation:
Fox, you stole the goose
Give it back
Give it back
Or the hunter will have to take you
With the shooting gun
Or the hunter will have to take you
With the shooting gun)

Re: very famous old children's song

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This is terrific. :)

Re: very famous old children's song

[nelladarren.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it - I actually thought it was a bit pointless since it doesn't really tell a story, but it's really very old and famous - and there has been a board game based on that (I have my Grandparents' set and always wanted to donate it to some museum...)

And just in case Talis should read this: NO, no sexual innuendo as far as I'm concerned. ;o)

[bardling.livejournal.com]

IIRC, in German folklore the Fox character is referred to as "Reinecke Fuchs" - googling that should throw up something.

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Oh, do you want Reynard the Fox?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynard_the_Fox

Also, off hand references: the fox-hunting motif: "Bold Reynard" is a song performed by Alan Mills on his Animals (for Young Folk) records that I listened to as a child; and the more devilish "Black Fox" sung by Heather Dale on her Road to Santiago CD.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with the story, and I've been to that wikipedia entry tonight: it's where the icon for this post comes from.

If you're going to reference songs, can you provide lyrics or links to lyrics? Thanks. :)

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

I managed to track down this reference to the Alan Mills song:

http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=19405

Here is the Heather Dale web-site page for The Road to Santiago with the description of "Black Fox" (by Graham Pratt, it turns out:

http://www.heatherdale.com/music/RTS-Songs.html#BF

I have an .mp3 of "Black Fox" and could transcribe the lyrics for you. RSVP if you'd like me to. I don't have the lyrics to "Bold Reynard"; but the Smithsonian entry does have the first verse and allows you to get a flavor of the tune and evidently you can buy the song there directly. ("Bold Reynard" is a sequential chase song, the farmer asking various individuals if they'd seen the fox; the punch line was that there is no "Bold Reynard" at all about. The farmer has been chasing a phantom.)

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

You can find the lyrics for the Alan Mills song in the liner notes for the album on the page (link to pdf: This will take some time to download.) According to the notes, "Bold Reynard the Fox" is an Ozark variant of an English hunting song.

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Lyrics to "Black Fox" on the web:

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBLACKFOX;ttBLACKFOX.html

Heather Dale sings a slightly different version; but the above are evidently the original lyrics.

[budlite.livejournal.com]

Oh, my, please keep us updated with what you find - I'm a (not-so-)closet fox fanatic :)

The September 2006 Fortean Times had a large segment on fox folklore and mythology, which is where I found the following nuggets, alongside much more coverage of the aforementioned native American and Japanese folklore and a lot more.

• Gormanston foxes - around Gormanston in County Meath, Ireland, legend held that whenever a Lord of Gormanston was close to death foxes would congregate to pay their last respects. It's reported that in September 1876, when the 13th Viscount died, a group of foxes had been spotted by the gate, and under his bedroom window that day. It's also stated that a group was seen to follow the coffin to the graveside.


• Finnish fox fires - fox fires being a colloquial name for the Aurora Borealis, so given because the lights were believed to be produced by a fox painting the sky with its tail in the mountains of Lapland. Another variation is the lights being the product of sparks caused by arctic foxes brushing their tails against snowdrifts.

Beyond this I'm ashamed to say I don't know much more specific folklore, but I'm certainly interested to find out.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! The Finnish tidbit is fantastic. :)

[budlite.livejournal.com]

I should mention - I can't find any references to the Gormanston foxes via Google, but rather more about the Finnish folk myth.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I've heard the term "foxfire" used in the US to denote luminescent fungus.

foxes

[rutemple.livejournal.com]

I'll second and vouch for that; there's a series of books by that name from a school project in the early 70s, doing oral histories in the Southern Apallachians:
http://www.foxfire.org/prodFFbooks.html


If you're listening to Sally Rogers this evening, Gwen, surely you're familiar with her rendition of Mister Fox. It's on her joint album with the inimitable Claudia Schmidt; While We Live.
Mister Fox
Author: John Pole
As sung by Sylvia Herold


Outside Mr. Fox's garden, three maids playing with a golden ball
Jenny threw it up and Susan caught it, Mary bounced it over the wall
The wall is high - Mr. Fox has a little red eye

In she ran to fetch it back again, the garden gate stood open wide
It silently closed and locked behind her. Mr. Fox stood just inside
The wall is high - his smile is cruel and his eyes are sly

He says, "I'll keep this golden ball, Miss Mary. I shall have it and here you will stay.
You will keep my house and be my servant, never stir out for a year and a day
The wall is high - the grasses shiver and the tall trees sigh

Spring and summer passed like shadows, she saw the green leaves fade and fall
She walked alone in the empty garden, Mr. Fox said nothing at all
The wall is high - never a soul came near nor by

But three strange things he did forbid her, "Never touch my iron box
Never go near the thirteenth bedroom, nor near the bed," said Mr. Fox
The wall is high - "Mary, don't you dare ask why."

Mary she rose up one morning, found an iron box on the shelf
But of all the rooms at Mr. Fox's, bedrooms there were only twelve
The wall is high - Mary, don't you peep and pry

One day Mr. Fox went walking - in that box she found a key
It fitted a door she'd never unfastened and when she opened it, what did she see?
The wall is high - the door said run and the key said fly

In Mr. Fox's thirteenth bedroom, a naked sword hung on the wall
In a silver bowl on the beds black counterpane, there she saw her golden ball
The wall is high - the bed said come and the sword said die

In she ran to snatch her ball again, to fetch it off that great black bed
Out jumped Mr. Fox and leapt at her, his teeth flashed white and his eyes burnt red
The wall is high.

Sally and Claudia add a final verse to bring it around:

Outside Mr. Fox's garden, three maids playing with a golden ball
Jenny threw it up and Susan caught it, Polly bounced it over the wall

Re: foxes

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have relatives in the Foxfire books, as they're basically about "my people". All my cousins always had copies of the whole set in their houses, because it was like a Who's Who for mountain country folk.

Re: foxes

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Fangirl SQUEEE!!!!

I adore those books :-) I've tried to get a full set in the UK, but it's either very difficult or very expensive and I seem to be permanently broke these days.

But still... SQUEEE!!!

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

This isn't truly folklore, and given it was written on Long Island (but by someone French and IN French) there's always the fox in le Petit Prince.

Adieu, dit le renard. voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

[occams_pyramid]

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/historical/SongandLegendFromtheMiddleAges/chap3.html
Search for Reynard - near the bottom of the page
http://www.york.ac.uk/teaching/history/pjpg/fox.pdf (PDF file)
http://www2.nd.edu/Departments//Maritain/etext/walsh-m.htm
http://www.coyotes.org/kitsune/myths_french.html
http://bestiary.ca/biblios/biblio1665.htm
http://bestiary.ca/biblios/biblio1497.htm
http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/72404e815100dfeba19afeb4da09e526.html
http://aol.alibris.com/search/books/subject/Reynard%20the%20Fox%20Legendary%20character

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Chaucer. Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer and the Fox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanticleer_and_the_Fox

And I don't know if this song's the same as any of those mentioned by others?
http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/thefox.htm

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it a fox that the Spartan boy hid under his tunic?

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/government/fox.htm

[shadowfey.livejournal.com]

For American folk stories, look for tales of the Appalachian mountains. You'll find if you look for that, much which has nothing to do with Native American culture.

here's my google-fu of the moment for you

[rutemple.livejournal.com]

There's apparently a show on in Philadelphia right now:
Jack and Molly Tales (Appalachian Folk Tales)
Jack and Molly Tales (Appalachian Folk Tales) follows two ordinary children with extraordinary stories. Jack rescues a beautiful girl that has been turned into cat. Molly saves Jack from a forest of wild animals. Their friend Mutsmag tricks an evil witch, outwits her mean step sisters, fools a giant man, meets a wise fox and magical wood king that showers her with gold. These magical tales come to life with traditional storytelling, stunning shadow puppetry, enchanting theater, traditional music, folk wisdom and many surprises.

Hands on workshop for kids follows each performance.
• appropriate for kids

at the
Walnut Street Theatre
825 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tickets: 610-407-0460

----

this looks like a work of love as a compendium:
http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/Folkbib.htm
there are short annotations to the collected list of stories, a few fox tales.

----
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

----

http://www.americanfolklore.net/ee.html
There's always Br'er Fox in the Uncle Remus stories, which are mostly brought-over to America, West African Anansi stories.

----

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxes_in_fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster

----

That's all I have off the tip of my brain this evening.
Is there a searchable set of the Child ballads online somewhere, and wouldn't that be grand?

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

I assume S. Cooper's Grey King foxes don't need mentioning.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

"Someone out there must know something about fox folklore in Europe and the British Isles."

Sure! I know the folklore of Buffy and the Simpsons and the X-Files and...

Oh. You meant the *other* kind of fox, didn't you?

[rinioth.livejournal.com]

When I saw this post my first thought was "Ask Talis", have you?

[mnfiddledragon.livejournal.com]

per vulpine137 when I asked him if he knew anything (a history/folklore/fox nut who studied history/anthropology in college) his response was:

[09:10] vulpine137: Hmm, Sionnach was an Irish goddess who's symbol was a fox. Welsh witches were reported to be able to turn into foxes. The bogman they discuss in 'life and death of a druid prince' had a foxfur arm piece. Reynard the fox is a fairytale/folk hero in france...

[maugorn.livejournal.com]

It's not folklore, but a couple years ago I read a yummy article on foxes and came across a fun fox fact that says alot about what had to have inspired some of the folklore.

A fox on the hunt will dance about and swish and twitch it's tail in front of prey to "charm" it. If the fox does it well, the prey will become all entranced and fascinated, especially by the tail as the fox sort of nonchalantly dances closer and closer...

"Lum de dum de dum, isn't my tail soooooo fine?
Do de do de do, Do you like my dance?
Want to dance with me?"

[janciega.livejournal.com]

It's not folklore, but there's a book on Project Gutenberg called "Lady into Fox." Title pretty much says it all. :) I enjoyed it.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10337