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

[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.