ſa，ș， ſ-a-rºſaesäºgr*********** i i É #. É = ; L [. L º º [] ſº | t G ſ [] | B L [. [] º t R º º º: º D [] - º-ºº ºl. Hillſ|||||IIIllilillº "... | * }. Tabcliffe College monographs No. Io * # ON THE SOURCES OF THE NONNE PRESTES TALE * BY KATE OELZNER PETERSEN BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS (The 3thrmacum Jregg 1898 . * p * *~~~~... ſh a . * * * “y. re!" rrºw-r-www.m. wºr--ºf-7. P R E FA C E. , THE material for this paper was collected at the Harvard College Library, to the authorities of which, and in particular to Mr. Kiernan, the Superintendent of Circulation, I am indebted for free access to the collections of Folk-Lore and of Example Books in Gore Hall. Acknowledgments are due to Professor Marsh and to Dr. Poll of Harvard University, who have aided me by their criticism and advice; to Professor von Jagemann, who has kindly made transla- tions for me; and to Dr. W. A. Neilson, who has given me important references. To Professor Kittredge, under whose direction this investigation was begun and carried on, I am deeply indebted. My thanks are due to him for valuable references and suggestions, too numerous to be recorded in the course of the paper, for revising the entire text in proof, and, in short, for help of every description. K. O. P. Brooklyn, July, 1898. !！！！!..-_-3===wº wae. --~~~~）; „…usº |× •. r i \*-- Wºl,s º- - ... ". ; : II. III. IV. W. VI. VII. VIII, C O N T E N T S. PAGES THE Cock AND Fox Story in LEARNED, IN ORAL, AND In EPIC TRADITION . . . . . . . . . 1-9 THE THEME of THE PURsult by Dogs . . . . HO-21 THE CAPTIVE's Trick . . . . . . . . 21–32 THE CAPTOR's TRICK . . . . . . . . 32-47 THE VERSION FROM which CHAuCER DERived His MATERIAL 47-90 Sources AND CHARACTER of ATHE ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IN THE NoNNE PRESTEs TALE . . . . . . 90–118 INDEx of AUTHORs CITED . . . . . . . 1 19-128 INDEx . . . . . . . . . . . . 129-144 *** • ** - . （--~~~~， „….…. ~ ！！！！！！！！!！ ！！！！！！！！！!！ # §: h ON THE SOURCES OF THE NONNE PRESTES TALE. * As the starting point of the Mun's Priest’s Tale, Chaucer has 7 taken an episode from the cycle of Renart the Fox. But in working up the story, he has combined new material so freely with old that the outlines of the traditional epic tale are often not easy to trace. The new matter, indeed, makes up more than two thirds of the whole." An investigation of the sources of Chaucer's poem, therefore, . involves two problems: first, the relation of the animal episode in the Mun's Priest's Zale to the epic of Renart; and second, the extent to which the added material is original with Chaucer. I. THE Cock AND Fox Story IN LEARNED, IN ORAL, AND IN EPIC TRADITION. As being in a sense the nucleus of the Mun's Priest’s Tale, the animal adventure may be considered first, — or in other words, the Cock and Fox story as it appears in literary and oral tradition. The traditional Cock and Fox story is found in three varieties of narrative: the learned fable and the epic animal tale, – both of which are forms of literary tradition, — and the popular animal tale of oral tradition. The distinctive character of each of the three varieties will become evident through a comparison of the varying forms which the Cock and Fox tale assumes in passing through these different types. For the learned fable, in such a comparison, the version of the story in the Anglo-Latin Romulus is fairly rep- resentative, inasmuch as that collection has been of the highest importance in the development of the written fable. For the epic tale, a summary of the Chantecler episode as it occurs in Reinhart Auchs has been * the German rendering represents the tale in a less elaboráte stage of development than the Roman de * See p. 117 for evidence on this point. i 2 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. A'enart." For the oral animal tale, a Flemish márchen is given, because in it the approach to the epic form is most apparent. In the table which follows, there is no intention of assuming anything as to the history or connection of the three varieties of the story. They are merely brought into comparison in order that the characteristics of the class which each represents may be defined. FABLE, FOLK-LORE. ANIMAL EPIC. : º ANGLo-Latin Romulus.” FLEMISH TALE.8 REINHART Fuchs.” A well-to-do peasant, Lanzelin, and his wife, old Ruotzela, lived in pros- perity, near a village be- 1 The Cock and Fox story proper of the Roman de Remart is the Chantecler episode of Branch ii. Other adventures of the French cycle in which the Cock and the Fox figure, are enumerated in n. 4 below. * Hervieux, II, 533 (old ed.), 598 (new ed.); Oesterley, App., 45. Cf. other ver- sions of the fable type: Berne Romulus, Hervieux, II, 308 (new ed.), 747 (old ed.); Extravagantes, no. 3 – Stainhöwel, p. 196, Grimm, R. F., p. 421, Hervieux, II, 274 (new ed.), 726 (old ed.); Marie, no. 51 ; Gallus et Vulpes, Grimm u. Schmel- ler, p. 345 f.; Baldo, Du Méril, p. 253 f.; Bromyard, J., XIII, 28; Gerard of Minden, AWiederdeutsche Demkm., II, no. 46 ; Hoffmann von Fallersieben, no. 7. Cf. also for the cock's trick : Alcuin, Du Méril, p. 137 f. (Wolf and Cock); Grimm, R. F., p. 420; and allusions in a Latin poem quoted by Du Méril, p. 144, note 1 (Wolf and Fox); De Vos un de Hane, Haupt's Zr., V, 406 ff. * Joos iii, 75 fſ. Cf. other versions in folk-lore: Cerquand, p. 237 (Basque); Archivio, 1887, p. 565 (Nivernais); Rev. Trad. Pop., 1890, p. 439 (Gouray); Wallonia, p. 100; Campbell, I, 271 ; Asbjørnsen, no. 34. Cf. also for the cock's trick : Rev. Trad. Pop., 1895, p. 32 (Aveyron); Lespy, p. 102 (Béarn); Blade, La Gascogne, III, 199: Meyrac, p. 451 (Ardennes); Campbell, III, 93. For allied stories in oral and written literature, see pp. 26 ft., below. - - * Reissenberger, R. F., vv. 11–176. Cf. other epic versions: Roman de Renart, Martin, branch ii, 23-468; and indirectly, - branch ix, 1065 ff.: branch xiv, 1–201; branch xvi, I-638 ; branch xvii, ro74-1203; branch ia, 1669–1672. — The AVonne Prestes Tale ; and imitations of it by R. Henryson, 7%e Zaill of Schir Chantecleir and the Foxe, Laing, p. 118 ff.; and Dryden, 7%e Cock and the Fox, Works, III, 306 f.; and allusions to it: Lydgate's Minor Poems, Percy Society, p. 151; Kingis Quair, st. 156, ed. Skeat, p. 39; The 7ale of Cockelbie Sow, Fitt iii, 99 f. (Laing's Select Remains, p. 263); Gawain Douglas, Pro- togue to Æneid, xii; Camden's Remains, p. 317; Shakspere Jest Book, p. 28 f.; The Ancient Drama, III, 158, quoted by Skeat, V, 250. —Cf. also, indirectly, Ysengrimus, iv, 811–1044. * . - The Sources of the Wonne Prestes Tale. 3 ++ r. -** * FABLE. AN'Gº-î-ATIN ROMULUS, Gallus in sterquilinio conversabatur; quem vul- pes intuens accessit, et ante illum residens FOLK-LORE, FLEMISH TALE, Reinaard had schrikke- lijk grooten honger en was op zoek naar beetjes. Hijkwam aan eene hoeve. Daar stond op men mesthoop een schoone malsche haan. Dat ware eene kans, zei F. en begost te water- tanden. Jamaar, hoe den haan gevangen f--- De haag was tusschen hen beiden; daarbij, de haan stond met zijn wezen naar den vos en zou zich niet laten grijpen, R. kreegeen gedacht. Hijkroop door dehaag. ANIMAL EPIC. RBINHAR# Fijº Hº, side a wood. The fox has stolen Ruotzela's hens and she scolds Lanzelin for it. By her advice, he builds a fence to protect Schanteclèr the cock, and his wife, Pinte. One day at sunrise, Reinhart the fox, comes to the yard to get Schanteclèr, The fence is too strong for him. At last, he pulls out a slat with his teeth and crawls through the hedge. Here he falls into a heap of cabbages and lies hid. Pinte perceives it and calls Schanteclér who is asleep. Then she and her companions fly upon a tree. Sch. comes up hastily. He assures the hens that they are safe. He tells Pinte that he has had a bad dream. He thought that he put on a red fur coat with a collar of bone. He dreads trouble and calls upon the The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. FABLE. ANGLO-LATIN ROMULUS, in hec verba prorupit: Nunquam vidi volucrem similem tibi in decore, nec cui plus laudis debetur pro vocis dulcedine. Patre tuo tantum ac- cepto - FOLK-LORE. FLEMISH TALE, Meester Haan, sprak hij vriendelijk, daar straks heb ik u hooren kraaien; rectuit gezeid, gij hebt nen wonderschoon en zang. Ik heb nochtans nen haan gekend die uw meester in't kraaien was. De haan luisterde en schudde vergenoegd den kop. Wie was dat ? vroeg hij. Het was de haan die hier vóor u op het hof liep. Hij zong zoo schoon dat ze van verscheiden uren in 't ronde er naar luisteren kwamen. En hoe had hij dat geleerd? Dat is een ge- heim, zei de vos. Ik was zijn bijzondere vriend en eens dat wij gemeenzaam, gelijk ik met u nu, samen praatten, heeft hij het mij ANIMAL EPIC. REINHA RT FUCHS- Holy Spirit to interpret the dream aright. Pinte says that she has noticed something suspicious in the cabbages and she ap- prehends trouble for Sch. He laughs at dreams and at woman's fears. Pinte, however, begs him to fly upon the thorn-bush and he complies. Reinhart means to beguile Sch. He talks about Schan- teclêr's father, Sengelin; speaks of the old hospi- table relations between their families. The Sources of the Wonne Prestes Zale. 5 FABLE, JANGLO-LATIJN ROMAULEJS, Qui, cum altius cantare voluit, oculos claudere consuevit. Gallus igitur, amator laudis, sicut Vulpes do- cuit, lumina clausit, et alta voce cantare coepit. Protinus Vulpes, in eum # irruens, cantum in tristi- # tiam vertit, raptumque Cantoren ad nemus deferens pro- peravit- Aderant forte pastores in campo, qui Vulpem profugam canibus et cla- moribus insequebantur. FOLK-LORE. Er LEME 5H 'TAL , toevertrouwd. Zegt het mij, smeekte de haan. Ik wil wel, zei de vos, maar ik zal het u stille- kens zeggen, want ik zou niet geerne hebben dat het door anderen geweten ware. De vos kwam nader. Als hij zong, fluis- terde hij en naderde nog, neep hij zijne oogen zeer dicht toe. Beproeft het eens, ge zult aanstonds ondervin- den dat uwe stem veel klaarder klinken zal. Ja de haan zette den bek wijdopen, neep dan de oogen dicht toe en wou kraaien. ºp Knap, zei de vos, had hem beet en haaste er zich mede langs de hage weg. Ongelukkig ! de baas der hoeve was bezig met op den naburigen akker te werken en zond, zoohaast hij den kiekendief zag, zijnen hond op om den ANIMAL EPIC, REIN HART FUCHS, Sengelin used to sing with both eyes closed. Schanteclêr sings with closed eyes. The fox seizes Schante- clêr by the neck and makes for the wood. Pinte laments. Lanzelin comes up. ZWhe Sources of the Wonne Prestes Tale. FABLE. ANGLO-LATIN ROME U LUS, Tunc Gallus ait Vulpi : Dicite quod vester sim et quod nichil ad eos spec- tet rapina ista. Vulpe igitur incipiente loqui, Gallus, elapsus ab ore ip- sius, auxilio pennarum mox in arbore summa re- fugium invenit. Tunc Vulpes ait: Vae sibi qui loquitur, cum melius deberet tacere. Cui Gallus de sublimi respondit: Vae sibi qui claudit oculos, cum potius * eos deberet aperire. Moralitas. Of these three versions, the fable manifestly presents the plain- est, least dramatic form of the story. This version, brief and dry, readily resolves itself into three themes, with a conclusion consisting of two epigrams and a “moralitas.” FOLK-LORE. IFLEM ISH TALEt, vos aan te vallen. De vos zag het gevaar en begost te beven. -'t Kan geen kwaad, zei de haan, zegt dat gij van mijne vrienden zijt, de hond zal u wel gerust laten. Ik ben -, begost de VOS. Maar zie 1 bij de twee eerst woorden ontsprong hem de Haan, die rap op den naasten boom vloog, Ongelukkig, zuchtte ver- volgde vos, die spreekt als hij zwijgen moet. En ongelukkig, riep de haan van op den boom, die zijne oogen sluit als hij waken moet. ANIMAL EPIC. REIN HART FUCHS, Schanteclêr prompts the fox to answer his pursu- GTS, “ Ja, ich, sammir Rein- hart,” says the fox, whereupon the cock es- capes and flies upon a tree, The fox is sad at it. The cock mocks the fox. The fox curses the - mouth that speaks out of SGalSO Il, Schanteclêr says, he is no fool who is always on his guard. The fox goes off hun- gry and cross. These three themes are : 1. What may be called the “ oculis clausis” theme, that is, a theme in which an animal is induced by its enemy to lay aside its t ft##55-'8 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 7 : natural caution and to close its eyes. The motive of emulating the exploits of one's father is usually added to this theme, as in the fable. 2. The theme which is seen in the tale of the geese and the tor- toise that came to grief by opening its mouth to speak. 3. The theme of the pursuit of the fox by men, or by men and dogs. The fable type shows the tale in its “AEsopic nudity.” But in pronounced contrast is the oral version. Here, the tendency toward epic amplification is not to be mistaken. The characterization of the cock and of the fox has begun. The fox, in fact, in this Flemish märchen has already received his epic name." The hedge which characterizes the fox's attack in the Roman de Renart, plays the same part in this popular tale. And, later, the fox uses the same device to disarm the cock as in the Roman de Renart; he refers to his own intimacy and friendliness with the cock who preceded Chan- tecler. The dialogue between the fox and the cock shows another point of contact with the epic version, in the fox's praise of the song of Chantecler's predecessor.” In the hue and cry, the Flemish tale again presents an epic variation. For, although in the oral versions it is usually the men alone who pursue the fox, in this Flemish tale, as in the Roman de Renart, the dog is let loose and joins the men in the pursuit. Finally, the “moralitas” of the fable is entirely wanting in the popular tale, as in the epic. Other details of the epic narrative are found in other popular ver- sions. The account from the Nivernais adds the detail of time" that 1 In an allied story (Krauss, I, no. 14), Gockeling, the Cock, outwits Reineke, the Fox. * Cf. “Hij zong zoo schöon dat ze van verscheiden uren in't ronde er naar luisteren kwamen” (Joos), with Onques nus cossi ne chanta. D'une grant liue l'ooit on (Ren, 312 f.) and et ultra Audire poterat milibus octo quateri (Yengrimus, iv, 957 f.) * “A la pique du jour un coq dans son toit chantait. Un renard, qui rödait pour le prendre, lui dit.” (Archivio, 1887, p. 565) |: 3.i 8 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. is found in Reinhart Fuchs and in the AVun's Priest’s Tale." Again, in this version one of the details in the description of Chantecler’s father as he sang recalls Chaucer's account.” Another detail of the epic type appears in one of the Highland Gaelic" versions, in which it is the wife to whom the cock belongs who discovers the fox's villany, as in the Mun's Priest's Tale. All these details are of an epic nature and bring the prose genre of the folk-tale very near to the poetic genre of the animal epic. Oral tradition, therefore, as (the Flemish märchen shows, has started on its way towards the am- plification which characterizes the literary epic poem. The folk-tale has already taken on the first indication of the background which is found in the epic version. It has begun to characterize the dia- logue between the fox and the cock, and the amplification of the hue and cry incident has begun." These tendencies, which are already present in the folk-tale, find , their perfected development in the epic narrative. But poetic form is added. The individualization of the fox and of the cock is now complete. They have their own fixed names, by which their adven- tures through various episodes are given a kind of unity. The epic Eines tages d6 diu sunne ôf gie Reinhart dò niht enlie Ern gienge zuo dem hove. (R. F., 41 ff.) And so bifel that in a dawenynge, As Chauntecleer among his wyves alle Sat on his perche. (W. P. T., 62 f.) * That the Mun's Priest’s Tale belongs to the epic type of narrative will appear later. See p. 9. * Cf. “il . . . fermait les yeux, allongeait le cou.” With both his eyen He moste winke . . . And strecche forth his nekke long and smal. * Campbell, I, 272. Cf. also Cerquand, p. 237 (the women discover the theft). * It may be added that the figure of one person as the proprietor of the cock begins to stand out. Now and then in the oral versions (see Bladé, III, 199, where the cock belongs to Jean Lartigue; cf. also Campbell, I, 271, and Wal- donia, p. 100) it is the proprietor of the cock who starts the pursuit of the fox, but more often it is the people who happen to be about, — reapers, farmers, etc. Here again the Flemish márchen agrees with the more epic form, ºf The Sources of the Wonne Prester Tale. 9 account of the fox and cock adventure as it is given in Reinhart * Puchs adds to the material of the thier-märchen in several particu- lars. The background of the narrative is more sharply defined: we have now the village near the wood, and the farm. Lanzelin and old Ruotzela are introduced and named. And Chantecler is . no longer alone : the hen, Pinte, enters the story and greatly enhances the interest of the plot. Through her, the conversation about the dream, so significant a feature of the Mun's Priest's Tale, is made possible. It is, moreover, Pinte's lament that calls the attention of Lanzelin to the cock's misfortune. In the epic tale also new motives are added to the conversation between the fox and the cock concerning the charm of Chantecler's predecessor. But most important of all the new features that are found in Arein- Aart Fuchs is the dream of Chantecler, which appears in the epic accounts alone. + Such are the three types of narrative in which the Cock and Fox \ story is found. With which of the three, then, does the version of the Nun's Priest most closely associate itself? Certain features which mark Chaucer's story are unmistakably epic and class it at once with that type of narrative. Most important of these is the v dream. Others are: the proper names given to the cock and the hen; the specific description of the proprietor of the cock, and of the yard with the fence and hedge; the dialogue between Chante- cler and Pertelote after the dream; the lament of the hens. All these traits, which are peculiar to the epic version, are found in Chaucer's story, and their presence there makes it certain that in his original the Cock and Fox story was told essentially after the epic manner. | Chaucer's animal story, then, had its immediate source in some epic tale belonging to the Renart cycle. We may next inquire ...) the sources and development of this epic tale." * In the general question of the sources of the animal epic, as a whole, one fact ; has certainly been established by the investigations of M, Sudre. The authors . of the tales of the Renart cycle drew their material, in the main, from oral tra. dition. (Cf. Sudre, p. 339; Willems, p. 129 f.; Voretzsch, Prests. Jahrb., 1895, p. 469 f.) But, M. Sudre proceeds to say, “Aussi cette tradition orale n'est-elle ni purement classigne, ni purement orientale. Le Roman de Renart ne peut se º IO The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. II. THE THEME OF THE PURSUIT BY DOGS. M. Sudre selects as his point of departure in the discussion of the Chantecler episode the intervention of the dogs, because, accord- ing to his theory, in this there is a survival of the original cadre of the story." This cadre, he thinks, is to be found in the AEsopic fable of the Dog and Cock. Indeed, he believes that this ramener a une origine aussi simple ; l'ensemble de ses contes échappe, dans leur point de départ, aux classifications toutes faites” (ibid.). M. Willems, however, in his Etude sur l'Ysengrinus, seems to regard the traditional material as less complex. (Cf. “Le fonds des récits du Renart est évidemment constitué parles apologues ésopiques,” p. 132.) He proposes, moreover, a new theory for the development of the epic tale. “Nous considerons l'allégorie du loup-moine comme l'idée-mère de l'oeuvre ; partant, cette fable étant éminemment satirique, nous croyons que la satire était la base même sur laquelle sont venus se greffer pos- térieurement des apologues ésopiques. Et, ce qui a contribué à corser la satire, c'est la personnification dont furent dotés les animaux de la fable. Le Roman de Renart, oeuvre très française, a €té de prime-abord une aimable parodie de la société humaine” (p. 140 f.). It had seemed as if the investigations which pre- ceded M. Willems's work had finally relegated the monkish and satirical element in the animal epic to a secondary place. (G. Paris, Romania, XXV, 629.) At any rate, evidence which would re-instate this banished element must be of the strongest character; and such evidence M. Willems does not adduce. Voretzsch, therefore, in his review of Willems’s book, re-affirms his former views : “Wir haben, entsprechend der Zweiheit der Quellen, zwei parallele Entwickelungen vor uns, die sich schliesslich im Tierepos des 12. Jahrhunderts vereinigen : auf der einen Seite ein stufenmässiges Fortschreiten von der kurzen, lehrhaften Fabel zum umfänglicheren, mehr und mehr episch werdenden Gedicht, eine Entwickelung, die sich in den lateinischen Tiergedichten von der Zeit Karls des Grossen bis in den Anfang des 12. Jahrhunderts werfolgen làsst, die namentlich die Idee des Wolfmünchs ausprägt, aber nicht bis zur Individualisierung der Helden durch Namengebung gelangt; auf der andern Seite die Ausgestaltung des Tiermärchens in Nordfrankreich und den Niederlanden zur “Tiersage,” dadurch, dass die Hel- den dieser Märchen — wie noch heutzutage in den verschiedensten Gegenden und Weltteilen üblich — im Volke ihre bestimmten menschlichen Namen bekommen, wodurch diese von Haus aus epischen, zur Bildung von Episodenketten neigenden Erzählungen dem wahren Epos so nahe treten, dass sie in der That, um mit Grimm zu reden, “nur von den Dichtern aufgefasst und in Reime gebracht zu werden brauchten.’” (2s., XX, 420 f.; cf. also Preussische Jahrbücher, 1895, 469 f.) * Sudre, p. 275 f. * * The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale, I ** fable represents, in germ, not only the Chantecler episode, but all other episodes that deal with the adventures of Renart with birds." The AEsopic fable runs as follows: Kvöv kai äAektputov, Érapstav roumoréuevot, 68evov. 'Earépas & karaxafloworms, 6 uév dAckrpviov tri 8évôpov čká6evöev čvagás, 6 & Kviov rpès rim fián roi Sávěpov, Koāopa #xovros. Toi & dAekrpuévos Kará rà eioffès viſktop bovijoavros, dAérº: ākotīoraora ºrpès airów Łópape, kai orrāora Károffew wrpès éavrºv KareA6eiv #éiou étuffvueſy yūp &yatºv ouro bovijv Čálov exow dormáoragóat. Tod & eitróvros, Tov (hypopów irpárepov 8tvirviorat, iné tºv Šišav kaffeiſãovra, is éketvou ävočavros KareA6eiv, kākeivns ºntoiſons airów havioral, à kùov aidvins triſëfforas abrºv Šteorrápačev.” The intervention of the dog in this fable furnishes evidence, in M. Sudre's opinion, for the existence of a primitive relation between p y p this AEsopic fable and the mediaeval folk-tale of the Cock and the Fox, ; One hesitates to differ with M. Sudre on matters relating to the Acoman de Renart; but, in my opinion, his discussion of the Chante- * Sudre, p. 273. * Halm, no. 225; Furia, no. 88; Coraes, no. 36, and p. 297. See also Faerno, p. 30; Sir Roger L'Estrange, no. 143. There are various folk-lore versions. The English nursery rime, “A dog and a cock a journey once took” (Halliwell, AWursery Rhymes, p. 61) may have its source in Sir Roger L'Estrange's transla- tion. In the Barbary States (Basset, Contes Berbèrer, no. 9; cf. also various other Arab versions referred to by Basset, p. 146), on the Afghan frontier (Banmu, Thorburn, p. 222), and on the Upper Indus (Swynnerton, p. 131), this Dog and Cock story assumes Mussulman features. The adventure turns on the Moham- medan customs with regard to prayers. The dog's friendship for the cock is first dwelt on somewhat more than in the AEsopic version. Then the story goes on as in AEsop until the fox asks the cock to descend from the tree. The fox's pretext in these stories is to pray with the cock, and the cock evades the fox's request with the plea that he must first utter the summons to prayers. In AEsop the fox is torn to pieces by the dog, but in these Mohammedan versions he gets off with the excuse that he must perform his ablutions before praying. For a written version with these Mussulman features, see Zausend und ein 7ag, XI, 372. A story which has been interpolated in the Directorium (see p. 40 f. of this paper) has certain agreements with this AEsopic fable. But the dénouement of John of Capua's story, unlike that of the AEsopic fable, is tragic for the cock. The dog, moreover, does not appear. For other situations, more or less similar to the AEsopic, see p. 16 of this paper, — the account of the Rukkuta Jataka, of the mediaeval “decree” theme, and of the candelabra described by Voigt. it 2 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. cler episode shows an inclination to overlook the claims of popular material that does not connect itself with AEsop. In the Chantecler episode he selects as the oldest trait the appearance of the dogs, because that theme, more than any other in the episode, serves to connect it with AEsop. Now, in the AEsopic account, the part of the dog is of great consequence. He is the friend and comrade of the cock, and his rôle as protector" is really the turning point of the story. But in the Chantecler episode the case is quite differ- ent. Here the appearance of the dog or dogs — for the number is usually increased—belongs to a theme which is merely accessory to the main adventure. Though not always quite supernumerary, it is certainly of secondary importance. The point of the cock's trick is to escape by inducing the fox to open his mouth to speak, and it % is not material whether the pursuers are men or dogs or both. As a matter of fact, the form which the cock's trick usually assumes renders the appearance of the dogs superfluous. The cock prompts the fox to reply to the abusive words of his pursuers, that is, of course, to the men. His trick succeeding, the cock escapes. Thus the dogs have no real place in the story, which would be complete and consistent if they were not even mentioned. And, in fact, in some versions they are altogether omitted. In the Latin poem Gallus et Vulpes, for example, the oldest literary form of the Chan- tecler episode, the dogs do not appear; * it is only the rustics who pursue the fox. The pursuit by the dogs, therefore, in the Chante- cler episode is an accessory theme. 1 The rôle of protector is often given to the dog in relation to the birds. The friendship and protection of the dog is found among the various stories related to Branch xi, the episode of Renart and Droin, as one of the regular developments of that theme (see Sudre, pp. 301 ff.). For a study of this theme in Armenian folk-lore, see Reissenberger (F, u. S.). In a curious Kabyle story (Rivière, p. 87), which has traits of the Droin theme, the greyhound protects the wagtail from the fox. * This would not be significant (for Gallus et Vulpes is distinctly a clerical production) were it not that the following versions agree with the oldest literary version in the absence of the dogs : Extravagantes, Berne Romulus, Bromyard, Baldo. In Reinhart Fuchs the absence of the dogs cannot be taken into account, for there is evidently an abridgment of the epic version at this point. In none of the oral accounts from the following places do the dogs appear : the Basque The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 13 M. Sudre (p. 286), however, finds an indication that the theme was originally essential to the story in the fact that the dogs sometimes persist when their appearance is quite superfluous. In Branch xvi, for example, the cock has been given to Renart, and there is of course no pursuit by the dogs; but so strong apparently is the force of tradition that the dogs appear upon the scene, merely by chance. But does the appearance of the dogs in this case repre- sent the original cadre of the story trying to reassert itself, or is it a theme which has become appended to the original story? The latter is the simpler theory unless one is preoccupied with the idea of referring all of Renart's adventures with the birds to one ultimate AEsopic source. For the resemblances which seem to connect the Chantecler episode with this AEsopic fable are such as are due to eternal verities in the nature of dogs and cocks and foxes, – to traits, therefore, which are patent to every one and which lend them- selves to treatment in independent narratives. Resemblances, on the other hand, which are vital go back to one creative act of the imagination. Such a creation of the imagination is the part of the dog as comrade and protector of the cock in the AEsopic fable, and as such it involves other details of a like fictitious character. For there is no natural sympathy between dogs and cocks — beyond the bond which unites all domestic animals—which may be taken for granted in different countries at different times. A trait like this must have had a special imaginative origin. But there does exist a natural antipathy between a dog and a fox, and in the Chantecler” episode it is precisely this latter trait which is introduced by the appearance of the dog. Without any sentiment whatever towards the cock, the dog by instinct starts in pursuit at the mere sight of the fox. We have in this incident a mere transcript from real life,” requiring no imaginative process for its creation. The appearance of the dog, then, in the Chantecler episode does not seem to be vitally connected with his appearance in the AEsopic district, Gouray, Nivernais, Ardennes, Béarn, Wallonia, Aveyron (here it is the hens who raise the cry after the fox), Scottish Highlands. The dogs do not appear in Psengrimus or in the Norse mirchen, so far as the Chantecler episode itself is concerned; but both of these accounts end with another theme in which the pursuit of the dogs is an essential feature. * f 4 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. fable, and the nature of the resemblance hardly justifies the conclu- sion that in the intervention of the dog lies the oldest trait of the Chantecler story. Far more likely does it seem that the “pursuit `of the fox'' theme was formulated from the observation of real life. Once formulated, it would easily attach itself to any fox adventure where it made a suitable connection with the story. Then, its habit- ual connection with such adventures being established, its intrusion, from narratives where it is merely accessory but not inconsistent, into narratives where it is plainly incongruous becomes possible. A priori, then, this “pursuit of the fox" theme may have existed as a floating unit, so to speak. And as a matter of fact it did so exist; for in an old song about the false fox, this motive appears apart from any other, being derived apparently from observation of real life. The fals fox came vnto oure croft, And so oure gese ful fast he sought. The good wyfe came out in her smok And at the fox she threw hir rok. With how fox, etc. The good man came out with his flayle And smote the fox vpon the tayle. With how fox, etc." This song of course has nothing to do with the AEsopic fable. It simply shows how natural the theme of the pursuit of the fox is, and how common.” Besides this song, there are mediaeval tales which claim no connection with AEsop, and even another AEsopic fable, all of which contain the “pursuit of the fox” theme, just as it occurs in the Chantecler episode. In these tales, moreover, as com- monly in the popular Cock and Fox stories, but not as in the AEsopic fable of the Dog and Cock, it is generally several dogs who pursue the fox, * * Ed. Zupitza, Die Gedichte des Franziskaners Jakob Ryman, in Herrig's Archiv, LXXXIX, 285, and previously by Halliwell, Relig. Antiq., I, 4, no. 3. The MS. (Camb. Univ. Libr. Ee. I. 12) contains a date 1492 (altered to 1392). See Zupitza, Archiv, LXXXII, 467; XCVI, 177. * It is worth noting, too, in this song that the dog does not appear in the attack upon the fox. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. I5 sº The AEsopic fable which contains this “pursuit” theme is a tale of The Wolf and the Kid. The kid, taken captive by the wolf, begs his captor to play the flute that his death may not be inglorious. The wolf complies, and the dogs hear the noise and rush up. They put the wolf to flight and the kid is saved." The circumstances here are quite similar to those in the Chantecler story when the dogs appear. 4. So also, in the mediaeval tales referred to. In one the fox, by means of a decree” of peace, tries to inveigle a bird” down from a 1 Halm, no. 134; Furia, no. 74; Coraes, no. 94 and p. 318. For a list of paral- lels, see Pauli, ed. Oesterley, p. 493, note on no. 173; see Caxton's AEsop, ed. J. Jacobs, I, 6. Cf. also Bammu, Thorburn, p. 222 (wolf, jackal, and kid, - kid asks leave to sing); Haltrich, no. Io9 (goat with ten kids begs wolf to sing, and men and women come at the noise; cf. no. I 14, and Grimm, no. 86, - fox and geese); Cerquand, p. 240 (wolf and goats; victims desire to perform duty as choristers first. Fox and geese; servants replace the dogs and the wolf escapes. Cerquand also cites a conte agenais from Bladé, III, 160 f., “La chèvre et le loup'). Ysengrimus, vii (Salaura, the wild sow, and Ysengrimus — she asks him to pinch her ears that she may sing loud, and by the noise summons the whole herd who tear the wolf to pieces). In stories related to the Droin episode, the bird some- times persuades the fox to let her sing, and by this device summons the dog. Cf. Krauss, I, no. 9, and a tale quoted by Sudre (p. 306) from Valjavec (no. 63). * In the earliest literary versions of the “decree” theme the actors are the Fox and Dove (cf. Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 148): Anglo-Latin Aomulus, Hervieux, II, new ed. 599, old ed. 533 f.; Oesterley, App., 46; Marie, no. 52; Bozon, no. 61 ; Gerard of Minden, no. 47. Epic versions are the following: Ysengrimus, v, 1–316 (where it is the fox who tries to beguile the cock); Renart, ii, 469 ft. (where the bird is the titmouse; Branch ia, 1691–98, makes allusion to the Fox and Squirrel in a similar adventure: see Voretzsch, 2s., XV, 148); Reinaert, vv. 31.5– 420; Reinke, i, 4. Other literary versions are: Bromyard, J., VII, 8; Poggio, Jacobs's trans., II, 307 f.; L'Estrange's trans, no. 353; Hans Sachs, no. 206; Kirchhof, II, 404 (bk. iii, no. 128), cf. V., 94; Lafontaine, II, no. 15, ed. Robert, I, 145, f.; Stainhöwel, no. 164; De Vos und de Hane, vv. 161–227; Waldis, IV, no. 2; Croxall, no. 127; Franck, no. 95; Conviv. Serm., I, 121 ; Grimm, R. A., CXXII. Folk-lore versions are: Livonia, Mag. Pitt, 1885, 183; Krauss, II, no. Io (and cf. the last part of no. 38); Cénac-Moncaut, p. 223; Coelho, p. 13; Afanassiev, Gerber, no. 17; Campbell, I, 268 f.; Asbjørnsen, pp. 17off. (in this Norse story the “decree” theme is appended to a form of the Cock and Fox story); Decourdemanche, no. 57. * Hervieux (II, new ed., 311; old ed., 751) has a short fable containing the theme of the decree of peace in combination with the fable of the kiss, but the dogs do not appear and the bird is captured. 16 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. tree. The bird responds to his advances by calling his attention to a hunter * who is approaching with his dogs, and the fox flees. This “decree” theme has not been traced farther back than the Middle Ages.” Mr. Jacobs,” however, calls attention to the analogy between the mediaeval fable and the Aukkuta Jataka “as sculptured on the stupa of Bharhut. In the sculpture the cat is represented as tempting a cock to fly down from a tree." At the foot of the tree 1 Sometimes the figure of the hunter is omitted and it is only the dogs who come up. Cf. Campbell, Krauss, Poggio, Decourdemanche. * Gerber, p. 66. - *Absop, I, 75 (quoted by Sudre, p. 322). * Morris, p. 8 ; Cunningham, Stupa of Bharhut, 77. * Voigt (K7. Denkm., p. 36) mentions candelabra, belonging, as he says, per- haps to the third century B.C., upon the upper part of which a cock is shown and below there stands a fox. No watcher is indicated. These candelabra are men- tioned in Bull. dell’Inst. di Corr. Arch. Rom., 1876, p. 214, no. 3, and in Motizie degli Scavi communicate alla Accad. dei Lincei, Rome, 1876, I, 54. Of course, as Voigt says, a connection with the Cock and Fox stories cannot be made out until a more detailed description of the candelabra is furnished. There is also a similarity of situation in Jataka, no. 187 (Cowell, II, 74), where a jackal addresses the young geese sitting in a tree-top in the words of the follow- ing stanza Sit and sing upon the tree If in private you would be; Sit upon the ground and sing Verses to the beasts' own king. The watcher in this case is the Bodhisatta, who was at that time a tree sprite. The jackal's cajolery in this tale takes a form very similar to the fox's in the Russian version of the “decree” theme. The fox has a decree for the gorcock : “You gorcocks shall not sit any longer on trees, but always go on the green meadows" (Afanassiev, Gerber, no. 17). Cf. also L’Estrange, no. 353: the fox tries to get the cock to come down on the pretext of a decree, and declares that a cock in the air is out of his element. Jataša, no. 295 (Cowell, II, 300) is apparently a mixed form (cf. the evidence of a Thibetan tale, Schiefner, p. 356, cited on p. 28, note 3). The jackal is eating an old ox. The crow up in a tree utters words of flattery for his benefit and then begs him to leave her a bit. He replies: O Crow, whose neck is like the peacock's neck, Come down from off that tree and take a peck. The blandishment of the jackal here is like that of the fox in the Fox and Crow fable, but the jackal's invitation suggests the Fox and Cock theme. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 17 there is what appears to be a bunch of bells, and Mr. Jacobs thinks that this may indicate the presence of a watcher behind the tree, corresponding to the approach of the dog in the mediaeval tale.” In the Jataka, the cat, like the fox in the European story, is unsuc- cessful,” but the dog's intervention is not related in the present form of the Jataka. The only evidence of it is the representation of a third factor in the affair by the presence of what appear to be the bells at the foot of the tree.” The part of the dogs in the Putimamsa Jataka (Morris, p. 37) is somewhat similar to their part in the mediaeval theme. The wife of the jackal has tried in vain to beguile the she-goat and finally invites the victim to her house. The goat accepts, and says that she will bring an escort of two thousand dogs. The jackal, thoroughly frightened, takes herself off. In an Annamite version of the Fox and Crow story, the hunter is introduced. Just after the fox has outwitted the bird, the hunter, who has been watching, comes up and kills the fox (Dumoutier, p. 17 1). So in a tale of the Scottish Highlands (Campbell, III, Ioo) the fox has eaten the little Bonnach and has stolen some geese ; but the hunter has been watching and kills the fox. And in another folk-tale (Mourier, p. 13 ff., and Geldart, p. 66) a bird saves itself by betraying its captor, the fox, into the hands of the hunter. 1. But if the symbol at the foot of the tree does indicate a watcher, the AEsopic fable of the Dog and Cock, which M. Sudre makes so much of, affords in the rôle of the dog an even closer parallel to the Jataka than does the mediaeval tale. * In contrast with the cat's rôle here as the cock's enemy, a Russian story, in which the fox carries off the cock, represents the cat as the savior of the bird (Afanassiev, Gerber, nos. 19, 20, 21 ; De Gubernatis, II, 59). * There are resemblances which can be pointed out between certain traits of the mediaeval tale and two Oriental tales. The mediaeval story usually ends with the fox's retreat on the pretext that the dogs have probably not heard of the peace. A Gascon version (Cénac-Moncaut, p. 22.3) modifies this a little: the cock makes the suggestion that the fox show his papers to the dog who is approaching; the fox replies: “The dog is such a simpleton that he doesn't know how to read.” This variation of the theme makes a point of connection with the Oriental tales. In one of them, a folk-tale of the Upper Indus (Swynnerton, p. 145), a party of jackals find some loose papers on the ground. They agree to elect a lumbardār, and they give the papers in token of an Act of Settlement, as it were, to the new king. Then a sly fox suggests that they tie a basket to the monarch's tail, as a sign of his office. The dogs come, and the jackals run to their holes, but the new king cannot get in on account of his royal addition. The jackals from their holes cry out to him: “Show the villains your papers ; " and he replies: “I have already, but these village dogs are such barbarians they 18 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. Whatever the origin of the “decree" theme, the facts remain that it had an independent existence in the Middle Ages, and that an important feature of it consists in the arrival of the dogs. Here, then, is a source from which the arrival of the dogs could have been derived as an accessory theme for another Cock and Fox adventure. The other fox adventure in which the arrival of the dogs is an essential feature of the theme is the story of the Cat with One Trick. This tale appears in Greek tradition and has found its way into the Anglo-Latin Romulus, although it does not appear in the Phaedrus which has come down to us. The fox meets the cat and asks how many tricks she knows. She knows but one; the fox knows eighty" and he has a sackful" besides. Then the hunter * and the dogs come along. The cat makes use of her one trick and climbs a tree, but the dogs pursue the fox and catch him in spite of his eighty tricks and the sackful to boot.” Here again can’t read.” The other Oriental tale is a fable of Vartan (no. 16). The fox gives the wolf a letter for the chief of the village. When the wolf goes to the village, the dogs worry him. On his return the fox says: “Why did n't you show your letter P” and the wolf replies: “I did, but there were a thousand dogs who could n’t read.” In both these Oriental accounts, the idea of a written decree or letter of official authority which is rendered invalid by the ignorance of the dogs, is a rather grim joke at the bearer's expense. The wolf and the jackal in these two stories suffer from the stupidity of the dogs, just as the porter in the ballad of Adam Bell (Child, III, no. 116) pays the penalty of his own stupidity, when he opens the gate at sight of a letter which he cannot read. In the Gascon tale, on the contrary, the ignorance of the dogs is a clever pretext by which the fox escapes. The resemblance, however, between the Occidental version of the “decree" theme and these two Oriental tales, though confined to a few traits, is too characteristic, I think, to be accidental. Cf. also a Mongolian tale (Jülg, p. 181), in which the hare protects the lamb from the wolf by the following device: he mounts a throne and reads a letter from the god Churmusta, who desires the skins of one thousand wolves. Whereupon the wolf flees in terror. * The number varies: eighty is that given in the Anglo-Latin Romulus. * Sometimes the sackful is omitted. See the versions given by Stainhöwel (Extrav., no. 5) and by Croxall (no. 60). * The hunter does not appear in the account in the Anglo-Latin Romulus. * Anglo-Latin Romulus (Hervieux, II, new ed., 644, cf. 551; old ed., 578, cf. 485; Oesterley, App., 20); Stainhöwel, Extrav., no. 5 (Oesterley, p. 199; Grimm, R. F., p. 421 ; Hervieux, II, new ed., 277, old ed., 729); Odo (Hervieux, old ed., II, 622, new ed., IV, 212; Voigt, KZ. Denkm., p. 124); John of Sheppey (Hervieux, The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. I9 we have a story, very well known to the Middle Ages, from which the theme of the pursuit by the dogs might have been isolated and added as a pendant to other fox adventures. old ed., II, 777, new ed., IV, 441; Voigt, A7. Denkm., p. 148, no. 3); Marie, no. 98; Bozon, no. 116; The Owl and the AWightingale, v. 807 ff. (Mätzner, I, 43 f.); Bromyard, S., III, 16; Gerard of Minden, no. 90 ; Hans Sachs, II, no. 207; Waldis, II, no. 21 ; Keller, p. 526; Gesta Romanorum, Addit. MS. 9066, no. 52 (E. E. T. S., p. 371); Lafontaine, ix, no. 14 (Robert, II, 226 f., cites the Greek proverb, troXX oló d'Mºtnă, dAN éx?vos év uéya, and other parallels); L'Estrange, no. 374; Croxall, no. 60 ; Caxton's AEsop, ed. Jacobs, II, 137 (cf. I, 253); Grimm, R. F., p. clxxxviii; Sudre, p. 273 f., and note I, p. 274; Benfey, I, 312 ff. Folk-lore versions: Campbell, I, 27 I f.; Wallonia, p. Ioo; Grimm, K. u. H. M., no. 75; Hahn, no. 91 ; Krauss, I, no. 13; von Wlislocki, Zig, no. 98 (Fox and Hedgehog); the same, B. u. S. A., no. 9 (Fox and Squirrel); Schreck, pp. 231 fo 194 f.; Radloff, I, 214. In African folk-lore (Koelle, p. 179) the weasel is the shrewdest of all animals because it found the bag into which the Lord had put all the sense in the world. Von Wlislocki's version of this theme from gipsy folk-lore (cf. also the account in Hahn and in Krauss) concerns the same animals as the old Greek proverb– the fox and the hedgehog. The hedgehog has a single trick, - the feint of death. The fox has a sackful. The dogs do not appear in this account, but they do appear in the Armenian version (no. 9) given by von Wlislocki, in which it is the squirrel who has but one trick. There are other cases in which the dogs do not appear. In such tales, however, there is necessarily some variation in the story. In the Finnish tale given by Schreck (p. 231 f.), for instance, the bear is intro- duced as a judge. The wolf, the fox, the hare, and the cat leave it to his de- cision which is the most crafty creature. The fox has a thousand tricks, the wolf has a hundred ; the hare has one, and the cat also has one. The bear then suddenly attacks them all, to put their powers to the test. He half kills the wolf and seizes the tip of the fox's tail. But the two animals with but one trick escape. The hare runs off, and the cat climbs a tree, where she sits and con- gratulates herself on her one trick. In the other Finnish version, the bear again takes the place of the dogs. This time, however, the fox is really caught by the bear, and it is interesting to see him escape from the jaws of his captor by the same trick which the cock employs against the fox himself in the Chantecler story. Radloff's version of this theme concerns the crane with one trick (the feint of death) and the she-fox with twelve. Here the hunters arrive, but not the dogs. The dogs also fail to appear in two other folk-lore versions. The High- land Gaelic and the Wallonian tales, cited at p. 22, n., begin with this theme. In these tales, which are almost identical, the cock has three tricks and the fox sixty-three. This theme is here used by the fox as a trick to catch the cock, instead of the usual “oculis clausis” trick, and the dogs do not appear, 2O The Sources of the Wonne Prestes Tale. There were, therefore, at least two adventures of the fox current in the Middle Ages from which the motive of the sudden arrival of the dogs could have been drawn; and in the absence of more Schiefner (Awarische Zerte, p. xvii) found an allusion to this tale of the Cat with One Trick in the Avar story of the Black Fox. The theme of an animal which, though apparently favored by nature, gets into difficulties while a less favored one escapes, is common enough: cf. the Japanese tale of the Shell-fish and the Herring (Griffis, no. 23 ; Brauns, p. 93). Thom's Chinese AEsop (no. 28) has a similar story of a tailor who knew but one trade and a mountebank who knew many. An Angola tale (Chatelain, no. 37) of a partridge and a turtle exemplifies the same general theme. The theme of the Hare and the Tortoise shares one trait with the theme of the Cat with One Trick. In each, an animal conspicuously less well-equipped than his adversary in a contest comes out tri- umphant : see IIalm, no. 420 &; Furia, no. 173; Coraes, pp. 188, 398. Cf. also folk-lore tales with a similar theme: Schoolcraft, A. R., II, 180 (Pigeon- hawk and Tortoise); Wallonia, June 13, 1894, p. 100 (Frog and Snail). The slower animal stations its relatives along the course to be traversed and so outwits its competitor: von Wlislocki, Zig, no. 90 (Swallow and Frog : the editor refers to a Siamese analogue of the Bird, Khruth, and the Tortoise; cf. De Gubernatis, II, 369); Remus, no. 18 (Terrapin and Rabbit); Jones, no. 3 (Terrapin and Deer); Allain, no. 3 (Tortoise and Deer); Sébillot, p. 236 (Snail and Fox); Aymonier, p. 34 (Hare and Shell-fish). The slower animal seizes the tip of its competitor's tail just at the finish and thereby wins the race: von Wlislocki, Zig, no. 88 (Fox and Crab); Georgeakes et Pineau, p. 95 (Fox and Crab); Chamberlain, p. 18 (Fox and Tiger race from the top of the world to the bottom); Hartt, p. 7 (Tortoise and Deer; see also pp. 11–15 for various parallels); Bladé, III, 156 (Wolf, Snail, and Wasps); the same, p. 218 (Eagle and Wren); Sauvé, p. 319 (Fox and Snail); Schreck, p. 238 (Perch and Salmon); Schoolcraft, A. A., II, 216 (Linnet and Eagle: the linnet's trick, however, in this tale proves unavailing and the prize is awarded to the eagle); Campbell, I, 277 (Wren and Eagle: in this tale the bird’s trick serves. Campbell also cites Grimm, Āing Wren); Brueyre, p. 371 (Wren and Eagle, quoted from Campbell ; Brueyre refers also to the old story of Francion, and quotes De Gubernatis, II, 30); Grimm, K. u. A. M., Zhe Valiant Tailor ; Gerber, no. 22, p. 23. Cf. also tales which bear more or less resemblance to the Hare and Tortoise theme: Daddy Jake, p. 90 (Rabbit and Fox); Thom, no. 11 (Gnat and Lion); Schlenker, p. 62 (Goat and Elephant); Bleek, p. 143 (Ape and Hare); Harris, Mights, p. 386 (Terrapin and Mink); Fortier, p. 35 f. (the endurance of the lovers of the Mocking-bird is put to the test). A weak animal proposes to out-pull a powerful competitor: Hartt, pp. 20, 23 (p. 25 the tale of the mythological great Serpent and the Tortoise is cited); Jones, no. 33; Santa Anna Néry, p. 189 (Tortoise, Elephant, and Whale); Fortier, p. 3 l # * 77te Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 2 I decisive evidence than has been presented to establish a primitive relation between the Cock and Fox story and the AEsopic fable of the Dog and Cock, it seems probable that from some source like the fox adventures which have been described, the theme of they | pursuit by the dogs was drawn and appended to the Cock and Fox story. M. Sudre concludes his investigation of the Chantecler episode in the following words: “Au vieux fonds que nous offre encore la fable grecque Sont venus se Superposer, pour le renouveler et en faire un drame des plus ravissante deux contes indépendants, celui de l'animal qui se laisse persuader de fermer les yeux et celui de l'animal qui fait låcher prise a son ennemi.”* If, however, I am right in regarding the theme of the intervention of the dogs as merely an accessory theme, then it is in the two themes which M. Sudre describes as independent contes which have been super- imposed that the cadre of the Cock and Fox story is to be sought. The substance of the story, on this theory, consists of two general themes: first, a trick by which the captor gets possession of the captive; second, a counter-trick of the captive by which he eludes his captor. Does each of these tricks represent a trait of the origi- nal story, and if not, in which of the two is the original form of the story to be found 2 . III. THE CAPTIVE's TRICK. - J. The trick of the captor in the Chantecler episode takes the form f the “oculis clausis" theme, and the counter-trick of the captive, in this episode, takes the form of tempting the enemy to speak. - `. The “temptation to speak” theme is notable for three things: (1) (Compère Lapin, Elephant and Whale); cf., p. 17 (Compère Lapin and Ele- phant); Allain, p. 35 (Jabuti and Cahapóra); Baissac, p. 27 (Hare, Elephant, and Whale). The folk-lore of the Upper Indus (Swynnerton, p. 350) has a tale in which the cat's trick is very effective. A tiger went to the cat to be taught accomplishments. He learned to crouch, to spring, etc., and then, thinking he knew all, he made a spring at the cat. But she ran up a tree and called back to him: “How fortu- nate for me that I did not teach you more 1" * Sudre, p. 287 f. i | 22 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. it is far more widely diffused than the “oculis clausis” theme; (2) it is found apart" from the “oculis clausis" theme in certain forms of the Cock and Fox story, whereas no variety of that story has been found in which the “oculis clausis" theme stands alone” * In the following varieties of the Cock and Fox story the “temptation to speak” theme stands alone : The captor is tempted to open his mouth to sing: Alcuin's fable ; Dou lou et de l'oue » To say grace : Campbell, I, 267; Prym u. Socin, p. 313; Bleek, no. 12; U. R. N., no. 27; Jones, no. 44; and in written tradition: Vartan, no. 12; cf. no. 13; De Vos un de Hane (in this poem, though no trick of the captor precedes the “temptation to speak” theme, one follows it); Waldis, iv, no. 88; To make the sign of the cross (that this is really a variation of the foregoing theme is shown by a Wallonian account, Gittée et Lemoine, p. 138, in which both varieties of the theme are used as equivalent to each other): Monseur, p. 58; Questionnaire de Folk-Lore, p. 61 ; To repeat the cock's words: Campbell, III, 93; Aveyron version, Rev. Trad. Pop., 1895, p. 32 ; Béarn version, Lespy, p. 102 ; Ardennes version, Meyrac, p. 45I. For innumerable cases, outside of the Cock and Fox story, in which the “temp- tation to speak” theme is isolated from the preliminary trick, see pp. 28 ff., below. In contrast with the foregoing list, the following list enumerates the versions of the Cock and Fox story in which the “temptation to speak” theme occurs in combination with the “oculis clausis” theme, or with some other form of the captor's trick : Trick of saying grace combined with the “oculis clausis" theme: Asbjørnsen. Trick of saying grace combined with a temptation to cackle : Krauss, I, no. 14. Trick of saying grace combined with the temptation to leap : Gittée et Lemoine, p. 140 ; cf. Wallonia, Feb. I 3, 1893, p. 36. Trick of making the sign of the cross combined with the temptation to leap : Meyrac, p. 451; Rolland, I, 148 (a second counter-trick follows); L'Acho de la Corrèze, Août, 1892, p. 6. Trick of repeating the cock's words combined with the theme of the Cat with One Trick : Wallonia, June 13, 1894, p. ſoo; Campbell, I, 271. Trick of repeating the cock's words combined with the “oculis clausis” theme: Anglo-Latin Romulus; Berne Romulus ; Extravagantes, no. 3; Gallus et Vulpes ; Marie, no. 51 ; Gerard of Minden ; Anon. L. G. AEsop; Bromyard; Baldo; Ade- mar's fable (which may fairly be included here); Flemish folk-tale; Gouray folk- tale ; Basque folk-tale; Nivernais folk-tale; Psengrim us ; Roman de Renart ; A'einhart Auchs. . * But outside of the limits of the Cock and Fox story, the trick of “oculis clausis” does occur without the counter-trick. See p. 35, n. 3. In the story from # i i The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 23 or in which it is combined with any other counter-trick than the “temptation to speak” theme; and finally (3) the “temptation to speak” theme appears earlier than the “oculis clausis” theme in the written tradition of the Cock and Fox story. Before discussing the “oculis clausis” theme, therefore, we may examine the theme of a captive who temporizes with his captor and finally induces him to relax his hold. Tales illustrating the general aspect of this theme abound. Some- times the captive gets away by asking leave to dance once more before death.” Very often, in savage folk-lore, he induces his enemy to loose his hold on the ground that he is grasping the root of a tree instead of the paw or other member of the victim.” In a Gaelic tradition, a bird says to her captor, the fox, “Let me go and I’ll lay an egg as big as your head.” Then, when she gets free she offers the fox three pieces of advice, as the bird does in the fabliau of the Churl and the Bird,” the third, “Whatever you get hold of, take a firm hold of it,” “being a didactic remark which cor- responds to the proverbial utterances in the Cock and Fox story. The captor is not always moved to slay the captive by the pangs of hunger, but sometimes solely by the desire for vengeance ; and the victim saves himself by suggesting what purports to be a pecul- iarly wretched or terrible end for himself. “Fire will not hurt me a John of Capua which is cited on p. 36 f. there is a theme which may be allied to the “oculis clausis" theme, and in it there is no counter-trick. * Waldis, IV, no. 87; Haltrich-Wolff, no. 22 b (cf. Whislocki, B. u, S.A., no. 1 1). In Uncle Remus (AWights, p. 14), the rabbit escapes by asking the little girl to allow him to dance. * Harris, U. R., no. 12; Allain, p. 24; Theal, p. 176; Callaway, p. 23; Hartt, p. 29; Poestion, p. 17 ; Schreck, p. 2 Io; Beauvois, p. 73; Frere, p. 309 f.; Rol- land, I, I48. In Rolland, the theme in question is preceded by the captor's trick, and by a counter-trick of the “grace before meat" type. Moreover, the theme of the counter-trick as well as the theme of the trick has the additional motive of emulation of paternal exploits. For a list of versions, see Krohn, B. u. F., p. 63; cf. also Steel and Temple, pp. 245, 153. * Barbazan et Méon, III, I 14. * J. G. Campbell, p. 119. Vartan (no. 13) has this same tale; but his version seems to be compounded of two stories, for the bird adds the trick of “grace before meat,” which is quite unnecessary. 24 Zhe Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. * bit, knives will not hurt me a bit,” says the turtle in an Angola tale, “but don’t throw me into the water.”” And in Finnish folk-lore, the crow suggests to the fox who is about to slay her in vengeance: “Throw me down this declivity and let me be dismembered, that people may see how I am punished for my treason to you.” As she flies off, she flings back a taunt at the fox: “You are a master at catching your prey but a bungler at holding it.”” After the “Tar- Baby” trick, the rabbit advises the fox to throw him into the brier patch,” just as the monkey in an African tale tells the leopardess, who is about to kill him, to toss him up above a thorny bough.* The captive sometimes begs off on the plea that he is thin and 1 Chatelain, p. 155. Cf. also Harris, Friends, no. 23 (Mud-Turtle and Fox); Steere, p. 375 (Tortoise and Lion); Veckenstedt, II, 160 (Fox as judge is bribed by the crab to sentence him to death by drowning); Julien, p. 198. * Schreck, p. 189. The crow shows that tendency to epigram at the expense of her captor which is so common a trait of the bird in these stories. * Harris, R., no. 4; cf. Av., p. 68, and Journ, of Amer. Holā-Lore, I, 148; Journ. of Amer. Folk-Lore, VI, 48 (Rabbit and Frenchman); Jones, no. 4. The captor also unwittingly saves the victim in the following cases, in which, though not actually within the enemy's grasp, the victim is within his reach : Schon, p. 74 (the hyena pursues the fox who runs into a hole. As the enemy watches outside, the fox stretches out his paw and asks the hyena to lay hold of his shoes and help him to get out. She obeys, not knowing that she is releasing the fox himself); Callaway, p. 21 (the victim transforms himself into a stick or a stone which the enemy throws across the river in the supposed direction of the victim); Milne-Home, p. 58 (the dog is here a third party to the adventure. He incites the Anansi to throw the stone [that is, the goat] at himself and thus saves the goat); Allain, p. 49 (again the dog saves the victim. He jeers at the jaguar and eggs him on to throw the stone [the deer]); Callaway, p. 18 (Uthlakanyana suggests to his keeper the savage diversion of boiling each other. He himself goes through his part first, before the water gets hot. Cf. also Fortier, p. 25); Raju, p. 25 (by pure moral suasion, the grasshopper induces the dove to let him go); Bleek, p. 4 (the following device may be of Hottentot origin [Theal, p. 212, note] : the lion owed the jackal a grudge and one day met him at the foot of a rock. The jackal saw his danger, and rushing up he put his forepaws against the rock and cried: “The rock is falling | Come hold it while I go get a stick to prop it up.” So he escapes). Theal, p. 178 has the same tale (cf. p. 177 : by fraud, somewhat similar to the above, the jackal again escapes the lion by saying: “Hush | See that bush-buck on the other side of this rock. Stay here, and I'll run round and drive him to you"). * Stanley, p. 182. - The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale, 25 shall make a poor meal, and offers to conduct his captor to nobler prey. In a Caucasian tale, the lapwing then leads the fox into the hands of the hunter." Again, the glow-worm promises to lead the daw to a multitude of glow-worms and takes him to a fire: the daw darts at the sparks, tries to swallow them, and gets burnt.” After much the same pattern are a number of stories that tell how a small captive, often a chicken, begs a respite for time enough to rear her family, agreeing to return on a given day with her hundred young ones and so to satisfy the hunger of her captor. She does return at the appointed time, but, by a tremendous “gab,” she intimidates her foe and he decamps.” Savage folk-lore seems to delight in this trick on the part of a small animal who intimidates a powerful foe by talking big." * Mourier, p. 13. In a variant of this tale (Geldart, p. 66), the crested lark is charged by the fox with crime that deserves death. She offers to conduct her accuser to witnesses who will defend her, and so brings the fox to the hunter. * R. Raju, p. 1. Cf. also Julien, II, 146 f., quoted by Dennys, p. 148 (Monkey, Stag, and Tiger); Raju, p. 4 (Fox, Stag, and Lion: the captive, how- ever, is here devoured); Jataka, no. 137, Cowell, I, 295 (Mouse and Cat); Jeph- son, p. 154 (Cat catches the Rat while they are swimming, and the Rat saves himself by saying: “Wait till we get to land. You can't eat me here, for the salt water will get down your throat and make your stomach sick”); Steel and Temple, p. 69 (the Lambkin puts off various animals on this plea, but is finally eaten by the Jackal); Cabinet des Fêes, XVII, 230 (the captive only temporarily successful); Thorburn, p. 222 (the aged Camel, run down by the Wolf, says: “Read but the amulet written on my breast by which your game shall always be secured to you.” The Wolf advances between his forelegs and the Camel crushes him to death), * De Gubernatis, II, 138. Cf. also Cerquand, Bulletin, XI, 236 (fox advises the trick against the wolf); von Wlislocki, B. u, S.A., p. 15 (Wolf and Hare); von Wlislocki, Zig., p. 410 (Hen and Fox); Krauss, I, no. 9 (bird gets respite from fox to bring up her young; then makes an agreement with the dog to summon him at the appointed time that he may attack the fox, as in the Droin episode. Cf. Valjavec, no. 63 — quoted by Sudre, p. 306—and Blade, III, 2O3). * Harris, Friends, no. 14 (the Billy Goat terrifies the Wolf by pretending to chew rocks); Bleek; p. 122 (Goat terrifies the Elephant in the same way); Jones, no. 16 (Goat terrifies the Lion in the same way); Bleek, no. 13 (Leopard and Jackal); Frere, p. 303 (Pundit and Demon); p. 180 (Little Kid and Jackal); Gerber, p. 29 (Cat and Wolves); cf. p. 30 (Goat and Wolves); see also p. 76; 26 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. In other tales, again, the captive begs to be allowed to take a last look at his family.” "An African tale tells how the hyena tries to escape Death himself on the plea that she desires to embrace her children once more.” In a Finnish tale the wolf catches the sow with her pigs and she tricks her captor by saying, “Don’t eat us until I’ve baptized these young ones.” “ Somewhat similar in its appeal to the religious sense of the captor is the Basque tale of the Ass and the Wolf: the wolf allows the ass to go off to hear mass once before death, and, of course, sees no more of him.” The ass also takes in the wolf in an Afghan tale: “Let me teach you some- thing before I die,” he says to the wolf. “Jump on my back and learn to ride.” So he takes the fox to the hunter, and the wolf is so beaten by the sticks of the villagers that he barely gets off with his life.” In the cases enumerated, a quick-witted captive frees himself from the grasp of his captor by various devices. The particular form which his ingenuity takes in stories of the Cock and Fox type remains to be discussed. In such stories, the captor holds the cap- tive between his teeth and loses his prey by opening his mouth, for whatever purpose, whether to wash it, or to sing, or to speak (either in general, or in saying grace, or, finally, in jeering at a party of pursuers). The fabliau Pou lou et de l'oue illustrates one of these forms. The wolf seizes the goose and carries her off to a wood. She laments that she should be served up without song or the music of violins. Then, to please her, the wolf opens his mouth to sing and she gets away. Finding himself tricked, the wolf expresses his feelings in the proverb, “Mal chanter fet devant mengier.”” Voretzsch Harris, Mights, p. 303; Small, 7uti-Nameh, p. Ioo (Lynx and Lion); same, p. 129 f. (Woman and her two Sons against the Lion); Schreck, p. 202 (She-Goat and Wolf); Dennys, p. 149 (Tiger and Fox). Cf. also the Mongolian tale (Jülg, p. 181), cited above, p. 18, n. 1 Harris, R., no. 24 (Bull-Frog and Bear). * Bleek, p. 96. * Schreck, p. 233; and, ibid., the wolf catches the ram, who escapes by asking to be allowed to measure off a field. * Webster, p. 45. * Thorburn, p. 222. * Barbazan et Méon, III, 53–55. | The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 27 characterizes the type which this fabliau represents as follows: “The wolf (fox) through mere surprise brings the cock (goose, squirrel, kid) into his power, without employing any trick; no pur- suers appear; the cock, in order to escape, begs the wolf to sing to him once before death; the proverb at the end says that one should not idly chatter when it is time to eat.”” The earliest written form of the Cock and Fox story — the fable. of the Wolf and Cock, attributed to Alcuin *— has the characteris- tics of this form." To this type also belongs the Cock fable of Pierre de St. Cloud.” l'or, as Voretzsch points out, in the absence of the captor's preliminary trick, in the cock's request for a song from the fox, and in the fox's remark at the close, “Qu'a son menger parlast petit,” are to be found the characteristic traits of this type.” Another variant of the general type under consideration is the trick of the captive by which he induces his captor to say grace’ before devouring his victim. This is the form of the Cock and Fox story which savage folk-lore knows. As the Hottentots tell it, the jackal has caught the cock, but the captive persuades his captor to pray before eating; the jackal folds his hands to comply, and the cock escapes.” This also is the form of the cock's trick which appears in the first part of the Low German poem De Vos un de Hane. * This tale has a certain likeness to the AEsopic fable of the Wolf and Kid; but the similarity is perhaps more apparent than real. The kid saves himself by persuading the wolf to play upon the flute (to pipe, to sing, to pray, etc.) and so manages to summon help. The point of the trick lies in inducing the wolf to make a noise. In the fabliau, on the other hand, the trick consists in making . the captor relax his hold by opening his mouth. . . * Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 136. - * Du Méril, p. 137; Grimm, R. F., p. 420. * It shows also a decided influence of the AEsopic fable of the Fox and Crow in the matter of the cock's flattery of the fox's voice. Sudre, p. 287; Voretzsch, A’reuss. Whö., p. 455. * Martin, branch xvi, 1–638, cited by Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 136. * Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 143. * Or, by a development of the same motive, to make the sign of the cross before eating. * Bleek, no. 12. Cf. also Harris, AWights, no. 27 (Wolf and Rabbit); Jones, no. 44 (Fox and Squirrel); Prymu. Socin, S. S., p. 313 (Fox and Sparrow); Campbell, I, 267 (Rory, the Fox, and the Goose). Captor makes the sign of the cross: Mon- 28 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. Another form of this theme, similar to the trick of “grace before meat,” is seen in a Lithuanian tale in which the tomcat catches the sparrow. The bird persuades her captor that a great lord never eats without first washing his mouth,” and thus contrives a way of escape.” In the Chantecler episode the cock tempts the fox to open his mouth to repeat the words of defiance which his captive suggests. This form of the general theme — the temptation to speak — is exceedingly common.” In the Roman de Renart, — not in the Chan- tecler episode, however, — the cat revenges himself upon Renart by inducing him to speak when he has a cock within his jaws, and the seur, p. 58; Questionnaire de Folk-Lore, p. 61 (Fox and Squirrel). Written tradi- tion : Vartan, no. 12 (Fox and I’artridge); De Vos un de Hane, vv. 1–160 (Fox and Cock); Waldis, iv, no. 88 (Fox and Squirrel). Voretzsch suggests (Zs, XV, 136) that this fable of Waldis's may be derived from the Low German poem. They both agree, in particular, in the motive of emulation of paternal powers. In combination with a preliminary trick of the captor : Krauss, I, no. 14 (Reineke, the Fox, and Gockeling, the Cock); Gittée et Lemoine, p. 140 (Fox and Squirrel); L'Echo de la Corrèze, Août, 1892, p. 6 (Fox and Squirrel); Asbjørnsen, pp. 170 ff. (Fox and Cock). In this tale as well as in the one following, which is cited from Rolland, there are two additional themes. In the Norse tale the “grace before meat" theme is preceded by the “oculis clausis” trick, and the “decree " theme follows the counter-trick. The same combination of these three themes — save that the regular epic variety of the “temptation to speak" theme is used in the epic poem — is found also in Ysengrimus. Captor makes the sign of the cross: Rolland, I, 148 (Wolf and Squirrel: the captor's trick precedes and a second counter-trick — see p. 23, note 2 — follows “the sign of the cross" theme); Meyrac, p. 451. 1 Washing the mouth before eating is a trait which appears in Buddhist stories: see Tawney, A. S. S., II, 364, and Morris, p. 22. …a * Schleicher, p. 100; cited by Gerber (p. 67), who also refers to a Wallachian tale (quoted from a review of Gaster's collection in Zs. f. rom. Philol., XV, 265) of a lark who asked the cat to wash first. * The AEsopic fable of the Fox and Crow (Halm, no. 204) naturally belongs here. For lists of versions see Hervieux, new ed., II, 773, no. 259; Caxton's AEsof, ed. Jacobs, I, 236 f.; Kirchhof, bk. vii, no. 30, and vol. V, I 59. For a study of the episode, see Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 151 f. For versions in folk-lore, see Bozon, ed. Meyer, no. 8, and p. 231 ; Radloff, I, 217, no. 5; Ferrand, pp. 14 ff.; Burgaud des Marets, pp. 66 ff. ; Godet, I, 33; Dumoutier, p. 171 ; cf. also Jataka, no. 294, Cowell, II, 299; Jataka, no. 295, and Schiefner, Tibetan Tales, p. 356 f. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 29 cock escapes." In this case the captive is freed by the ruse of another animal. By the same trick the fox, in a Finnish tale, cheats the bear of a chicken.” But usually it is the captive's own wit that saves him.” In some tales the captive adds a remarkable knowledge of pho- netic values to his own sharp wit. The hare, in an Annamite tale,” for example, has cheated the crocodile, and the latter at last catches him. The captor holds the captive within his jaws and menaces him with the remark, “hic, hic’”; but the hare replies, “I don’t mind your “hic, hic,’ but if you should say ‘ha, ha,” that would be different.” So the crocodile opens his mouth wide to say “ha, ha,” and the hare escapes." In the Finnish tale already quoted, the bear loses the chicken by replying “Aus Norden" to the fox's inquiry about the direction of the wind. Afterwards the fox taunts him by saying, “Had it been I, I should have held the bird all the more firmly by replying, “‘Osten, Osten.”" Another instance in which a third animal enters the story is afforded by a tale from the Punjab. The cock-sparrow takes a new wife, and the old wife, seeing him carry her successor over the big river, calls out: * Martin, branch xiv, 164–17o. * Schreck, p. 211; cf. also p, 194, which is cited in this connection by Sudre, p. 285. * Rev. Trad. Pop. (IV, io9) describes an Arab legend in which the frog is caught by a snake and escapes by this trick. Sudre quotes this tale also, p. 285. * Landes, p. 117. * By making his enemy speak or otherwise betray his presence, an animal in the following tales saves himself from capture: Jataka, no. 57, Cowell, I, 142 (the crocodile, wishing to catch the monkey, takes his stand upon a rock. The monkey comes along and wonders why the rock stands so high out of the water. Feeling some distrust, he shouts: “Hi, rock 1" and getting no response he finally calls out: “How comes it, friend rock, that you won't answer me to-day f" Then the crocodile falls into the trap and replies); Harris, Friends, no. xix (“Heyo, House !”); Steere, p. 376; 7uti-Aſameh, ed. Rosen, II, 126; Aymonier, p. 35; Steel and Temple, p. 246; cf. also Frere, pp. 31 off. * Schreck, p. 21 1. Cf. Krohn, B. u. F., p. 122 : the wolf has the fox, and in response to the captive's inquiry says “Osten” between his teeth, without loosing his victim. Then the fox asks him to repeat the names of trees, and this time, in complying, the wolf opens his jaws, The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. Old wives must scramble through water and mud, But young wives are carried dry-shod o'er the flood. This so enrages the husband that he cannot contain himself but calls out, “Hold your tongue, you shameless old cat!” and the new wife falls out of his mouth and is drowned." In a Russian story, a man is bearing his wife to heaven in a sack which he carries between his teeth. He has almost reached his destination when he inad- vertently answers a question asked by his wife and she falls to the ground.” The situation is similar in the story of the geese and tortoise, which is told in the Kacchapa Jataka to point a moral to a talkative king.” Here there is no trick on the part of the geese. It is sim- 1 Steel and Temple, p. 157. * Gerber, p. 16. * /ataša, no. 215, Cowell, II, 123 (but in Jataša, no. 160, Cowell, II, 27, two golden geese carry Dingy, the crow, who is perched upon a stick, and therefore talks with impunity); Pantschatantra, bk. i, no. 13 (Benfey, II, 90, and H, 239 f.) ; southern Pantrekatantra, Du Bois, p. Io9 ; Hitopadesa, IV, no. 1 ; Wolff, I, 85; Knatchbull, p. 146; John of Capua, ca. II, p. 82; North’s translation of Doni, ed. Jacobs, pp. 17off. ; Anzar-i Suhaili, chap. I, p. I 59 ; Katha Sarit Sagara, ed. Tawney, II, 37; cf. II, III (the tale of the Bull of Siva. The catastrophe in this case happens through folding the hands, as in the Occidental “grace before meat '' theme. A number of fools wish to go to heaven to eat the sweetmeats that are there. They make their attempt in this way: the principal fool catches hold of the tail of the heavenly Bull of Siva, and the next fool catches the foot of the first, and so on. Then one fool says to the principal fool : “Tell us, how large are those sweetmeats P” And the leader, quickly joining his hands together, says: “So big.” Whereupon they all drop, to the amusement of the people below, and are killed. In this, and often in the Geese and Tortoise story, there are spectators who help to point the moral by their sentiments. Tawney also quotes the story of the fool who was clinging to the bough of a tree which hung over a river. Some one sang a song, and in his delight the fool clapped his hands and was drowned. Tawney further quotes Gosson's example, School of Abuse, ed. Arber, p. 43, of the geese who fortified themselves against the temp- tation of gaggling : “Geese are foolish birds, yet when they flye ouer the mount Taurus, they shew greate wisedome in their own defence: for they stop their pipes full of grauel to auoide gagling, and so by silence escape the Eagles”); Julien, no. 14; Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. I I I ; Dennys, p. 149; Keith Fal- coner, p. 49; Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 309; Lafontaine, x, no. 3, ed. Robert, II, 252 f.; an allusion in J. Marston, The Malcontent, Dodsley, IV, 41 ; Santa The Sources of the Avonne Prestes Zale. 3 I ply the folly of the talkative tortoise that is illustrated. In the Southern Pantschatantra, however, not only does the trick enter the theme, but there is a counter-trick. The crafty fox tempts the tor- toise to speak, in the hope of catching him. The tortoise does speak and the fox gets his prey, but he cannot break the shell. Then the captive makes a suggestion: “My shell has become hardened through the journey in the air. Put it in water and it will soften.” This advice the fox follows, still keeping his paw upon the back of the captive. After a while, “Are you soft’ ” he asks, and the tortoise replies, “Yes, all out that one part which you are holding.” So the fox lets go and the tortoise goes under water, jeering” at the fox.” In an Annamite version, too, the trick appears. Two herons bear a grudge against a tortoise. Now the tortoise, in a former birth, had been a woman with a sharp tongue. The herons wish to pun- ish her for insolence, and they offer to carry her through the air by means of a stick which she is to seize with her teeth. Just as they expect, people make comments on the spectacle, the tortoise cannot refrain from a scolding retort, and she drops.” In another story of the Annamites illustrating this theme, the tortoise and the rat exchange hospitality. But the rat lives at the top of a tree and has to take up his guest by letting the tortoise Anna Néry, p. 192; cf. also p. 203 f. (there is a feast in heaven in honor of the blessed Virgin, and all the animals are asked. The Vulture agrees to convey the Tortoise through the air. But when he has got upon the Vulture's back, and they have risen to a certain height, the treacherous Vulture drops the Tortoise, and he breaks into a thousand pieces. The Virgin, however, puts him together again, but the marks of the piecing remain upon his back to this day); Coelho, p. I 5 (the Heron invites the Fox to a feast in the sky, and offers to carry the Fox on her wings. As soon, however, as the bird gets tired, she looses the Fox, say- ing, “Hold yourself, gossip, while I spit in my hand.” There was below a great rock, and when the Fox came to fall, she cried out : “Out of the way, rock, lest I split you !” At this, she fell on the rock and burst). * Another trait, by the way, in common with the Cock and Fox story. * This trick of the tortoise in the Southern Pantschatantra is the same as the | trick of the mud-turtle in Üncle Remus: see Harris, Friends, no. 23, cited above, p. 24, h. I. * Landes, p. 197. 32 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. cling to his tail. When they arrive at the top, Madame Rat bids the visitor welcome, and he, not thinking, courteously replies and drops to the ground." Various forms of this widely diffused theme have now been enu- merated. In one, where the trick turns upon flattery of the enemy's voice, appears the oldest literary fable that directly connects itself with the Chantecler episode. In another, where the trick concerns the motive “grace before meat,” the Cock and Fox story appears in the form that savage folk-lore knows. And, finally, in the form of the theme in which the captive is induced to open his mouth to speak appears the special variety which is peculiar to the Chan- tecler episode. There is still a slight modification for the theme to undergo before it assumes precisely the form which is seen in the Renart episode. This modification is occasioned by the appearance of the pursuit motif. When the pursuers enter the story the cock's trick is adapted to their rôle : the fox is now urged, not only to speak, but to speak words of defiance to his pursuers. This modi- fication brings the theme of the counter-trick into the completed form which it shows in the regular Cock and Fox story, whether in combination with the “oculis clausis” device, or, as in some of the oral versions, independent of the theme of the captor's trick. IV. THE CAPTOR’s TRICK. There remains the preliminary trick of the fox which is joined to the cock's trick in the fuller versions of the Cock and Fox story. The combination of these two themes characterizes the form of the story which appears in the Chantecler episode. To quote Voretzsch” again, the characteristics of this form are: “the fox gets the cock into his power by a trick; the pursuers appear; the cock, in order to escape, prompts the fox to address them; in two proverbs at the close, it is said that one should at all times keep one’s eyes open, and that one should not speak when it is better to keep silent.” “ The * Dumoutier, p. 180. * Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 137. * Extravagantes, no. 3, has only the second of these proverbs. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 33 motive of emulating the exploits of one's father ' is commonly added to the fox's blandishments; very often also the dogs join with the men in pursuit of the fox. The oldest literary example of the com- plete Cock and Fox story, the Latin poem Gallus et Vulpes,” which goes back, in all probability, to the eleventh century,” contains all these features, except the participation of the dogs in the pursuit. * This “patrizat” motive — to use a term from the Gallus et Vulpes — appears in a twofold form in the Cock and Fox story. In most versions the fox urges the cock to sing “oculis clausis" because his father did so with such effect. This phase of the motive appears in both forms of the story, -in the form in which trick and counter-trick are combined, and in the simpler form in which there is no pursuit and no captor's trick. (For the “patrizat” motive in the simpler version, see De Vos un de Hame, and Waldis, iv, no. 88.) This emulation of the paternal power in song seems to be a popular element that belongs pecul- iarly to the Cock and Fox tale. Nevertheless, it does not occur in the Norse märchen, nor in Bromyard's fable. And there are versions of the Fox and Crow fable in which this motive makes its appearance. In Odo and in Bozon, for ex- ample, the fox suggests this motive to the crow (“Quoniam bene cantabat pater tuus,” Odo, Hervieux, old ed., II, 653. “Dieux I com vous estez beal oysel, e ben seriez a preiser, si vous chauntassez auxi cler cum fist jadys vostre piere !” Bozon, no. 8, p. 15). But in such authors as Odo and Bozon this motive may be a popular element that has attached itself to the material of the learned fable. Among the epic versions there seems to be a further development of this idea of the emulation of one's father's accomplishments. Reinhart Fuchs shows this development very distinctly. There the fox claims the honor of an old family friend, and is pleasantly reminded of visits paid to Chantecler’s father. He urges Chantecler to be cordial in his welcome, as his father was. Now, something like this phase of the “patrizat” idea occurs outside of the Cock and Fox story. See p. 40, n. 3, for a letter of the fox to Chantecler, a learned production in which the fox advises the cock to renew the friendly relations which his parents had held with the fox's kin. There is also a slight similarity to this motive in an Oriental tale (see ibid.) in which the tiger says to the giraffe : “Your father was my friend. Let me have the pleasure of embracing you.” * Grimm u. Schmeller, pp. 345 fſ. The cock's instigation of the fox in this poem contains, besides the usual motive of the retort, a suggestion of the “ne inglorius moriar” idea which characterizes the type of the Cock and Fox story represented by the fabliau Dou ſou et de l'oue. * For this poem, Sudre cites Wackernagel, K7. Schr., II, 272 f. As a proof of the popularity of the Cock and Fox story in France during the twelfth century, Robert (Fables Inéd., p. cxxi, n., 3) quotes the Roman d’Alexandre : Li Grezois les engignent com Renars fist legal, Qu'il saisi par la gorge quantil chantoit clinal. ! ;- . . .t "...i * , º: s:" sº ... An ..& * -: º 34 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. The theme of the fox's preliminary trick has two principal forms in the Cock and Fox story. In the one, the fox beguiles the cock by the “oculis clausis” trick. This is the commoner form and that which appears in the epic story. In the other form of the fox's trick, the cock is replaced by the squirrel, and the fox's flattery con- cerns the agility of his victim and of his victim's father. The fox tempts the squirrel to leap from tree to tree. The squirrel tries to perform this feat, which, according to the fox, was so easy to his father, and falls into the fox's grasp. Then follows the counter- trick in the form of the “grace before meat” theme." The “oculis clausis” form, being that which occurs in the Chantecler episode, is the more important in this investigation. The first appearance of this “oculis clausis” theme in literary tradition dates from a fable of Ademar. In this fable it is the partridge” who is persuaded by the fox to close her eyes. The flat- tery in this case is naturally addressed to the bird’s form rather than to its song.” “Si dormines, pulchrior esses,” says the fox, and the partridge shuts her eyes. Then follows the second theme in its simple form without the pursuit motive. The partridge begs the fox to pronounce her name before devouring her, and so escapes. The fox then says, “Alas! what need had I to speak?” and the partridge replies, “Alas ! why did I sleep at the wrong time?” “ Grimm, R. F., p. cxcvii, Jonckbloet, p. 62, and ten Brink, Chaucer Society, Origi- mals and Aztal., p. I 14, all quote Robert's remark. i Meyrac, p. 451 ; Rolland, I, 148 (Wolf and Squirrel); L'Echo de la Corrèze, Août, 1892, p. 6; Gittée et Lemoine, p. 138; Wallonia, February, 1893, p. 36. The following Fox and Squirrel stories have only the counter-trick, - the fox's trick is wanting: Monseur, p. 58; Questionnaire de Folk-Zore, p. 61. * In folk-lore the partridge, like the wild goose of the Highlands (Campbell, I, 267), is a wary bird; cf. Mrs. Partridge has a fit, and outwits the shrewd rabbit himself (Harris, Friends, no. 7). In another tale the jackal says to the partridge, “Who has painted you so beautiful ?” and the bird replies, “You will become like me if you gaze at the sky. Then your eyes will grow bright.” This and further advice the jackal follows and comes to a sad end in consequence (Basset, no. 5). In the Jatakas, again, the partridge is exceedingly wise : see Morris, p. 40 (the learned partridge acquires a knowledge of the three Vedas); Jataka, no. 37, Cowell, I, 94 (the monkey and the elephant yield to the sage partridge). * Sudre, p. 283. *Ademar, no. 30; Hervieux, new ed., II, 142, old ed., II, 132; Oesterley, App., no. 9. * The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 35 This fable, says Sudre, is one of those which the first compiler of Phaedrus did not find in his Latin author, but which he took from the folk-lore of his time.” The “oculis clausis" theme, then, appears first in connection with the partridge and the fox, and it appears before 1029.’ ” Moreover, the “oculis clausis” theme, in this its 1 Sudre, p. 283. * This fable belongs to a collection of sixty-seven fables written in the hand of Ademar of Chabanes. Their date is therefore anterior to Io29, the date of Ademar's departure for Palestine, where he died (G. Paris, Journal des Savants, December, 1884, p. 676: Jacobs, AEsop, I, 5). But the original of Ademar's col- lection goes back at least to Carolingian times (G. Paris, ibid., p. 686). * The “ oculis clausis' motive is found here and there in animal tales, but no- where, so far as I can discover, outside of the Cock and Fox story is it applied as a trick to the effort which a bird makes in singing. The idea of shutting the eyes as a mark of effort is found. In one of Colonel Jones's negro stories (no. 51) the wolf is fiddling and shuts his eyes tight: “Buh Wolf yeye shet tight an eh dis ben er rock from side ter side, an draw eh bow teh berry lenk en der pat de time wideh foot ” (cf. also no. 55, where an Ebo man leans back and shuts his eyes and draws his bow across the fiddle). More important for the Cock and Fox story are the riddles which show the popular imagination ready to attach the idea of shutting the eyes to cocks in the effort of crowing: “Pourquoi les coqs ferment-ils les yeux quand ils chantent 2 Parcequ'ils savent leur musique par coeur" (Almanach de la Gaieté, June, 1860, Luxeuil; cf. also Monseur, p. 15). “Warum driickt der gockelhahn die augen zu, wann er kräht? Weil er's auswendig kann’” (Mone's Anzeiger, 1838, 264). The idea of the “oculis clausis' motive as a trick to get the advantage also occurs. There is a Jataka in which the monkey outwits the crocodile by persuad. ing him to open his mouth. For the tale goes on to say, when crocodiles open their mouths they shut their eyes (Cowell, I, 143, no. 57). Not only is this asser- tion not in accord with the facts of natural history, as the editor adds in a foot- note, but another version of the Jataka (Cowell, II, III, no. 208) does not contain this trick at all, Nor does the Russian variant, quoted by Cowell (II, IIo, note), contain the trick, nor the version in John of Capua (ca. vi, 21o ; cf. also Steere, pp. 2 ff.; Allen, pp. 35 ft.; Griffis, p. 151 f., for a similar tale without the trick). Perhaps, however, an Angola tale may have some connection through the “oculis clausis” motive with the Jataka in question. In the Angola tale (p. 165) the leopard says: “My grandson, when thou crossest this brook, it shall be that thou shuttest thy eyes for jumping.” In a folk-tale in the New Aramaic dialect (Prymu, Socin, p. 313) the fox plays this “oculis clausis” trick upon the camel, but the pretext here, as in the Jataka, is quite different from that in the Cock and Fox story. The camel is old and dying, and the fox says that he will wait for the end and then feast upon the body. 36 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. first appearance, as always in the regular Cock and Fox story, is combined with the counter-trick of the victim. The most direct analogue that has been found for the “ oculis clausis” form of the captor's cunning is the trick by which a bird is induced to hide its head under its wing. This trick appears in a He goes off to get the wolf, and, when they come back, the fox tells the camel that the death-angel is now come and that he must shut his eyes, and — what is interesting in connection with “oculis clausis" — make the sign of the cross. The camel obeys and the wolf springs upon him and strangles him. In an Algonquin legend (Leland, p. 186) Lox, the mischief-maker, commonly known as the Indian devil, inveigles the birds into his wigwam on the pretext of a kingly reception. Then they are all told to shut their eyes and ordered to keep them closed, on their very lives, until they are directed to open them again; for they will be blinded forever, should they behold the king in his magnificence. So they sit in silence, “oculis clausis,” and Lox kills them, one by one. Again, in an Algonquin legend (Leland, p. 219), the rabbit is a terrible magician, and it is a trial of skill between him and the wildcat. The rabbit disguised agrees to sing if all the members of his audience will shut their eyes. Then he almost kills the wild- cat, who sits expectant, “oculis clausis.” In a third legend of this tribe (p. 231) a youth is ordered to close his eyes and to take hold of the fox's tail while the latter swims to shore with him. Here, as in the Angola tale quoted above, there is no trick; but the details somewhat resemble the Jataka which has the “oculis clausis” motive as a trick. In one of Daddy Jake's tales (p. 134) the rabbit suggests that due reverence to King Polecat requires that every animal should shut his eyes and hold his nose whenever he meets the king in the road. Rad- loff (III, 371) has a story in which the weasel offers food to the fox if the latter will shut his eyes and hold his tail between his teeth. Then the weasel leads the fox to men who kill him. Bromyard (O, VI, 64) relates a fable in which the fox plays this trick on the ape, but the dénouement is not so tragic. “A diabolo decipiuntur sicut simia a vulpe, de quibus fingitur quod de divisione prede con- tendentes, simia a vulpe edocta, oculos clausit: quibus clausis, vulpes totam asportavit predam.” Here the fox's pretext is not given. In the Hottentot version of the Cock and Fox story, which has already been quoted, the cock says to the jackal: “Please pray first as the white man does.” The jackal asks: “In what manner does he pray? Tell me.” “He folds his hands in praying,” replies the cock. The jackal folds his hands and prays. Then the cock says again: “You ought not to look about you as you do. You had better shut your eyes.” The jackal does so and the cock flies away (Bleek, no. 12; cf. also Harris, Mights, no. 27; Campbell, I, 267). The “oculis clausis" trick does not occur as a pre- liminary trick to the cock's ruse in this tale, as in the Cock and Fox story proper, but it is added to a counter-trick of the general type of the “grace before meat.” theme. Now, as has been shown, the popular imagination knew the “oculis The Sources of the AVonne Prester Zale. 37 story told by John of Capua, and in his version there is no counter- trick. The fox threatens to climb up into a tree where the dove is sitting unless she throws him down her young ones, and she is ter- rified into compliance. The sparrow hears of it and advises the dove to defy the fox another time. When the fox discovers that the sparrow has been interfering, he sets out to capture him. And now he who helped others by his advice has none for himself. For the fox asks the sparrow what he does when the wind blows, and the silly bird shows the fox how he hides his head under his wing. At that, the fox seizes him and eats him up." In the South African version of this story, in which the jackal, the dove, and the heron are concerned, the theme is given an aetio- logical turn. The heron bends his neck down to show the jackal how he bears himself when a storm comes, and the jackal beats him upon the neck and breaks it in the middle. So from that day the heron's neck has been bent.” But not all the versions of this story lack the counter-trick. In the Bassouto version the heron escapes by offering to provide the jackal with better prey.” In a confused Kabyle version of the clausis” motive as a mark of effort; it also knew that motive as a mark of the cock's effort in singing, and it knew that motive as a trick. But it apparently did not know the “oculis clausis" motive as a trick applied to the cock's effort in singing. Perhaps it was some such version of the counter-trick as the Hottentot version that suggested the line of development for the captor's trick in the com- pleted Cock and Fox story, whatever form that preliminary trick may have assumed at the start. 1 John of Capua, cap. 17, pp. 320 ff. Cf. Benfey, I, § 237, p. 609; Krauss, I, no. Io; Bleek, no. 11; Jacottet, p. 34; Rivière, p. 145; Schreck, p. 189; Ward, II, 176. This story of the Fox, the Dove, and the other bird, appears in the Old Spanish version of the Arabic Kalilah wa Dimnah, in the Hebrew version (whence it was taken by John of Capua), and in Raimond's version. It is not contained in the later Syriac, Symeon Seth's Greek, nor in Nasrullah's Persian version. Being found in two independent translations, the Hebrew and the Old Spanish, the story must have found its way into some recension of the Arabic version. Besides, it is actually contained in the Mosul edition of the Kalilah wa Dimnah (Keith Falconer, p. xxxvi f.). It may also be noted that in the first part of this story another of the adventures of Renart with the birds, the Renart and Droin episode, finds a parallel (cf. Sudre, p. 306). * Bleek, no. 1 1. * Jacottet, p. 34. 38 77te Sources of the Aſonne Arestes Zale. Hen,” the Swan, and the Jackal, the swan gets away.” An interesting Finnish version “tells how the crow advised the magpie against the fox. Instead of beguiling the crow by the trick of asking how she comports herself when the wind blows, Michel, the fox, catches her by pretending to be dead. He then sets out to kill the crow, but she escapes by means of a clever trick, suggesting to her captor a plan for her own salvation, like Brer Rabbit in his advice to the fox after the Tar-Baby trick.” Other forms of this general theme of the trick of a crafty animal to get possession of a feebler one are the following: 1. The enemy pretends to be deaf and so persuades the victim to draw near. 2. The enemy induces the victim to draw near in order to receive a kiss. 3. The enemy masquerades as a saint or priest and offers to shrive his victim or to heal him by virtue of holy powers. 4. The enemy pretends to be dead and the victim draws near. In most of the instances illustrating these forms, the dénouement is tragic, like that of John of Capua's story and unlike that of the “oculis clausis" theme in the Chantecler episode. The first of these forms may be represented by a story from the later Syriac version of the Arabic Kalilah wa Dimnah. The hare 1 In this story the cock figures: the little cock never stops singing and so calls the jackal's attention to the young ones of the hen. * Rivière, p. 145. * Schreck, p. 189. In the beginning of this story the fox approaches the tree upon which the crow has her nest and pretends that he means to hew it down in order to make himself snowshoes. He agrees to desist only on condition that the bird will throw him down one of her young ones. In El Conde Lucanor (ed. York, chap. 31) the fox tries a similar trick upon the cock: the fox invites the cock to descend from his tree and to walk on the ground, and, when the bird refuses, he begins to gnaw at the tree; the cock is terrified and finally is captured. * The appearance of the counter-trick in these folk-lore versions of the story may have some real significance. For John of Capua's version contains a theme which is analogous to the “oculis clausis” theme of the Chantecler episode and may be related to it; and the Finnish version of the story contains the same combination of trick and counter-trick which is found in the Chantecler episode. From two sides, therefore, this story, which appears in the Directorium and in folk-lore, may be related to the Chantecler story. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 39 and the sparrow quarrel over their nests and submit the question to the cat, who pretends to be an ascetic. She says that she is old and deaf, begs them to come closer that she may hear their dispute, and devours them both." American negro stories combine the motive of a feint of deafness with an additional theme which is found also in the story of John of Capua, already quoted, the theme of an animal who interferes between the enemy and his victim. Uncle Remus tells of a sparrow who meddles in the rabbit's affairs and who wished to tell tales to Brer Fox. But Brer Fox says, “Git on my tail, little Jack Sparrow, kaze I'm de'ſ in one year, en I can’t hear out'n de udder.” The sparrow lights on his tail, his back, his head, his tooth, and is swal- 1 This Syriac version must be assigned to the tenth or eleventh century (Keith Falconer, p. 137 f. and p. xiv). Cf. Pantschatantra, III, no. 2, Benfey, II, 231 ff., and I, 35o ff.; Anzar-i Suhaili, p. 322; Cabinet des Fêes, XVII, 442; Lafontaine, vii, no. I 6, ed. Robert, II, Ioy f.; John of Capua, cap. 5, pp. 174 ff.; Baldo, no. 20, Du Méril, p. 249; Wolff, i, 197; Knatchbull, pp. 226 ff.; Kirchhof, vii, no. 33; and vol. V, 160; Katha Sarit Sagara, II, 67. Compare a story of the Gaelic Highlands in which the fox induces the little bonnach to draw near. The fox is going over a loch and offers to take the little bonnach across; but the latter is distrustful. Finally he is persuaded to enter the fox's mouth on the pre- text that the fox cannot eat while he is swimming, and the little bonnach is devoured (Campbell, III, 100 f.). A curious parallel to this story is told in Russia about the fox and a strange cake. “In the eighteenth story of the fourth book of Afanassieff, an extraordinary cake escapes from the house of an old man and woman, and wanders about ; it finds the hare, the wolf, and the bear, who all wish to eat it; it sings its story to them all, and is allowed to go; it sings it to the fox, too, but the latter praises the song, and eats the cake, after having made it get upon his back " (De Gubernatis, II, 128, note 2). This tale is told in American folk-lore about a Johnny-cake which is persuaded to jump into the fox's mouth (Journ. of Amer. Folk-Lore, II, 217; III, 291 ; and II, 60 ff., with references to St. A'icholas, May, 1875, and to the Scotch variants in R. Chambers, Popular Rhymes of Scotland, London, 1870; the third of these Scotch variants is the Gaelic version cited at the beginning of this note). Bladé (III, 256) has a tale of a cake that sang. In the Flemish márchen quoted above, p. 5 f., the fox offers to.tell the cock the secret of fine crowing, but confidentially, and the cock draws near. A queer Kaffir story has the feint of deafness without any other feature of this theme. The chief of the animals pretends to be deaf, and by this pretext induces a powerful woman to approach him. He then swal- lows her, but she proceeds to cut her way out of his body (Theal, p. 166). 4O The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. lowed.” Likewise, in one of Colonel Jones's stories of the negroes on the Georgia coast, the jay-bird tells tales and the alligator by the same feint of deafness contrives to swallow him.” John of Capua again offers an illustration of the second trick (see p. 38, above):” the enemy begs to be allowed to kiss his victim. The story in the Directorium runs as follows: “Tempore hyemali, 1 Harris, U. R., no. 19. The fox's persuasion in this story is very similar to that in one of the stories of the cake and the fox, cited above, p. 39, n. I, from the Journ. of Amer. Aolk-Lore. * Jones, no. 21. * Another form of the captor's trick, somewhat allied to this type, is the claim of cousinship or other blood-relationship with the victim. This form is notable because it occurs in the Chantecler episode as a supplementary motive to the “oculis clausis” theme. Daddy Jake (Harris, p. 84) expresses the feelings of the would-be cousin: “Dem guineas roos' so low en dey look so fine en fat dat it make Brer Fox feel like dey wuz his fus’ cousin.” In a Hiawatha legend (Schoolcraft, p. 94) the hare is upon a rock and the lynx below. The latter says to the hare : “You are very pretty; come down to me, for I am a relation of yours.” Then the hare, like Chantecler, is so ravished with the flattery of the enemy that she cannot detect his treachery; she comes down and is killed. By this same trick the tiger in an Indian tale (R. Raju, p. 64) tries to cajole the giraffe. “I see the son of my old friend,” he says. “Your father was my friend, and we were of the same family.” Then he proceeds to offer the further assur- ance of his own asceticism: “I spend my time in prayer and meditation. Let me have the pleasure of embracing you.” And the giraffe, drawing near, is devoured. Again, in one of Croxall's fables the fox discovers his cousinship to the cock. He is fast in a trap when he catches sight of the cock. “Dear cousin,” he says, “I got caught because I heard you crow and was resolved to ask you how you did it. So, either keep still till I gnaw my way out, or get me a knife.” Then the cock posts away to the farmer, who comes and kills the fox (Croxall, no. 193. Cf. also no. 189, in which this motive is introduced into the old fable of the fox who comes to visit the sick hen: Decourdemanche refers this fable, no. 76 of his collection, to Remicius, no. 82, De Gallina et Vulpe; L’Estrange, no. 31.5, has the same fable, but the sick hen is replaced by the cock, and L’Estrange classes this fable with others from Abstemius; add Sophos, no. 40, and see Jacobs, I, 155, for comment on the fables of Sophos. The motive of cousinship belongs, of course, only to Croxall's version of this fable). The same means in a Swahili tale (Steere, p. 435) serves to save, instead of to destroy, the feebler animal. The lioness is about to seize the antelope when the latter says, “Welcome, cousin!” and the enemy is ashamed and forbears to seize her prey. Z7ie Sources of t/ic Λ'omme Prestes 7a/e. 4 I nocte quadam perfrigida, exivit vulpes quidam famelicus ut sibi cibum colligeret, et veniente ipso ad predium quoddam audivit gal- - lum in lentisco canentem. Et festinans vulpes ad arborem, inqui- ' . sivit a gallo : Galle, quid cantas in hac tenebrosa et frigida nocte ? Respondit gallus : Annuncio diem quem ex natura nosco statim venturum, quem omnibus meo cantu insinuo. Ait vulpes: Ex hoc cognosco, te aliquid faticinii et presagii divini habere. Audiens hec gallus, letatus est et iterum incepit cantare. Et tunc vulpes incepit corisare et saltare sub arbore, et sic inquisita causa a gallo, quare vulpes saltare, respondit: Quia video te, sapientem philosophum, cantare, merito et ego corisare debeo, quia cum gaudentibus gaudere debemus. Et dixit: O galle, princeps omnium avium, non solum dotatus es ut in aere, sed etiam in terra more prophetarum tua vaticinia omnibus creaturis terrenis nuncies. O felicissime, quia pre omnibus te natura ornavit, descende ut tecum possim contra- here societatem ; sed si illam integre favere non velis, sine tamen osculari dyadema et coronam tui insignis capitis, ut possim dicere, osculatus sum caput sapientissimi galli qui fert coronam inter omnes aves. Et audiens hec gallus, descendit confidens blanditiis vulpis, et inclinavit caput vulpi quod arripiens vulpes gallum comedit suam- que famem refecit et dixit: Ecce inveni sapientem absque omni prudentia.” * Sometimes it is only the intimacy of hospitable relations between the families of the captor and the captive that is urged as in Reimhart Aeuchs, In a I.atin correspondence between Reinhart and Chantecler (Haupt, Altdeutsche Blätter, p. 3 f.), the cock writes to the fox to ask him if, in his wisdom, he can suggest any means by which the cock may escape the sad fate that awaits him, — to be burned, torn apart, and cooked to sate-man's appetite. In his letter of reply, the fox invites the cock to come to the woods and live with him, — ** ubi tales ami- citias et vicissitudines invenietis in nobis, quales parentes vestri a nostris majori- bus perceperunt.” With this reference to the friendship of their ancestors, the ά correspondence stops. 1 Directorium, cap. 4, p. 141 f. This story is an interpolation ; it does not occur in the Hebrew text (Benfey, I, 3o9). Cf. Franck, no. 7o, p. 185; Cyril, II, no. I 5, ed. Graesse, p. 51 ; Voigt, Guidrinus, II, no. I 5 (87. Dem&m., p. 144) ; Æabula de Gallo et Vulpe (ibid., p. 1 1 1 f.), a fragment whose source Voigt thinks (ibid., p. 36) may be the fable of Guidrinus ; Reimhart Kuchs, vv. 177—2 16; A'emart, branch v, 759—762 (quoted by Sudre, p. 292). Nic. Pergamenus, Dial., no. 61 42 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. The “monking ” of the enemy (see above, p. 38) is one of the commonest forms of this general theme. Orient and Occident, oral and written literature, are full of examples. In the Occident, the (the fox persuades the capon to descend that he may be crowned, and then devours him); L'Estrange, no. 424 (the fox beguiles the cock by calling him a prophet). Two other tales may be added, not as illustrations of this special theme, but as belonging to the general category of Fox and Cock stories in which the fox devours the cock: Chatelain, no. 30, and R. Raju, p. 106 f.; and Theodulf's fable, as being tragic for the hen, may also be put in this list (Du Méril, p. 137, note). The trick of the kiss occurs also in connection with other forms of the captor's trick. It is found in connection with : (i) The “decree” theme, as a kiss of peace: Odo, Hervieux, old ed., II, 661 ; cf. 751; Jacques de Vitry, ed. Crane, no. 20; Renart, br. ii., 469-601 ; cf. br, vi, 298–314 (Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 148, quoted by Sudre, p. 292, n. 2). (ii) The theme of the animal with one trick. In a folk-tale, already mentioned, the fox with many tricks deserts the hedgehog with but one when the latter is caught in a snare. The hedgehog, apparently resigned, says: “At least come and kiss me farewell.” And when the fox draws near to give the kiss, the cap- tive seizes him and holds him fast until the peasant comes. Then the fox is killed and the hedgehog gets off (von Wlislocki, Zig, no. 98; cf. Hahn, no. 91, and Krauss, I, no. 13). Likewise in an Avar tale, the snake plays the fox false and tries to kill him. But the fox says, “Let me kiss you,” and so manages to destroy his foe (Schiefner, Awarirche Texte, p. roo). (iii) The theme of the enemy as physician, as a kiss of healing. In a Transyl- vanian story, the cock is blind of the right eye on account of a cataract. The fox pretends to be able to cure the eye with a kiss, by virtue of being a holy man. The cock is thus deluded and perishes (Haltrich-Wolff, no. 20). There is a fable somewhat similar to this, in Bromyard (A, XI, 9), which, however, does not show the motive of the healing kiss. The cock, in Bromyard's fable, is wiser than in the Transylvanian story. The fox pretends to have a speck in his eye and begs the cock to remove it. But the cock is cautious and declines. Cf. also L’Estrange, no. 432; Prym u. Socin (M. A., p. 297): the fox pretends to heal the eye of a flea. - (iv) The theme of the fox as physician to the birds is not an uncommon one. See Haltrich-Wolff, no. 18, quoted by Sudre, p. 310. In a similar story (Morris, Jataka, no. 1) the enemy plays saint instead of physician. Cf. Thom, Chinese AEsop, no. 62 (she-wolf wishes to be physician to sow); Prym u. Socin, M. A., p. 353 (fox as physician to grasshopper); Gerber, p. 16 (fox as physician to woman). In Wrengrimus, vii, the wolf meets Salaura, an old sow ; he calls her Aunt and desires a kiss of peace. .( The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 43 learned fable of the cloisters engaged itself particularly with the idea of the wolf as monk.” But outside of the cloister the fox and various other animals play the part of priest.” Mediaeval sculpture offers many illustrations of the fox as priest. In the church of Christchurch, Hampshire, the fox is represented as preaching in the pulpit, while the cock on a stool beside him seems to be acting as clerk. On the stalls of a church at Boston, Lincoln- shire, the fox figures as a prelate seated in his chair with a mitre on his head and a pastoral staff in his hand. His flock consists of a cock and hens, whom he holds as he preaches to them.” In popular mediaeval tradition, then, the fox often figures as priest, as the wolf does in learned tradition. But sometimes it is the cock “qui est capellanus bestiarum,” as he is definitely described in one of Odo's fables.” 1 Voretzsch, Zs., XX, 420. * In Raimond's Latin version of the Old Spanish translation of Kalilah wa Pimnah, the leopard is introduced as father confessor (Keith Falconer, p. lxxxiii). Cf. Schön, p. 165 (Fox is priest of the forest); Koelle, p. 163 (Jackal is priest of the forest); Prym u. Socin, pp. 282, 286, 287 (Fox as pilgrim); Psengrimus, iv.; Remart, viii (The Pilgrimage); Kirchhof, I, 66 (Fox as confessor to the hens); Prym u. Socin, M. A., p. 361 (Fox as clerk); Hitopadesa, p. 17 (the tiger tries to catch the traveler. He pretends to be pious and old, but adds to the inducement of his piety the assurance that he has no teeth); R. Raju, p. 64 (the tiger pre- tends to be an ascetic); Bladé, III, 205 (the fox pretends to be an ascetic). See other instances, from the Jatašas, etc., given on p. 45, n. 1. * For these and other examples of the fox as ecclesiastic in mediaeval sculpture, see Wright, Caricature and Grotesque, p. 78. For the fox preaching to the hens, see also Bulletin Mon., VIII, 44; IV, 160; X, 545. The raven, in a learned fable of the Middle Ages, tries to betray the hens to the fox. The bird tells the hens that their enemy has become monk and may even now be seen at his prayers. The shrewdness of the cock, however, who meets the procession of hens as they start out, headed by the raven, brings the raven's scheme to naught (Cyril, i, cap. 13, ed. Graesse, p. 191 f.; cf. Voigt, A7. Cen&m., p. 141 ; Schoperus, Speculum Atelae, p. 29). * Hervieux, old ed., II, 644. Cf. John of Sheppey, Hervieux, old ed., II, 783. Sudre shows how easily the motive of the cock as confessor may have developed. In another of Odo's fables, the fox begs the fowls to let him in, for he is so over- come with hunger and cold that he must die if they refuse, “et, si moriar in hoc periculo, imputabitur vobis" (Hervieux, old ed., II, 629 f.; Bromyard, G., IV, 15), “A ce tableau, une legére retouche suffirait pour le transformer en une 44 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. In the East, it is very often the cat who passes herself off as a saint or holy person." She falls into the shoemaker's tub, in one tale, and thereafter uses the dye as a disguise and plays the part of a nun.” The last-mentioned tale illustrates a pretty widely diffused theme. An animal falls into a jug of dyestuff and comes out all blue. By means of this change of color, he palms himself off on the other animals as a great personage. Sometimes he masquerades as a king and sometimes as an ascetic or a holy person. So, in a Cau- casian story, the fox uses his newly acquired color as a means of persuading the cock, the kite, and the lapwing that he has renounced the world, and is going on a pilgrimage. He offers to shrive them, and the cock and the kite are devoured very much after the manner of the AEsopic fable of the Cat and Cock.” But the lapwing is too crafty for the fox and leads him off in the expectation of prey, right into the hands of a hunter." Usually, peinture analogue à celle de l'autre parabole d'Eude” (Sudre, p. 314). At the same time Odo may have found the idea of the cock as chaplain of the animals somewhere in the folk-lore of his day. We know that he took his material largely from oral tradition (Sudre, p. 293), and the cock is found as priest in various stories of the New Aramaic dialect. In one, the animals, going on a pilgrimage, choose the cock as their priest (Prymu. Socin, AW. A., p. 301). In another, the cock officiates as priest at the funeral rites of the ass (ibid., p. 306; cf. also p. 283), 1 Julien, II, 152; Hitopadesa, p. 37; Schiefner, Tibetan Tales, p. 344; Landes, p. 305; Carnoy et Nicolaides, p. 183; Cabinet des Fées, XVIII, 290; Recueil de tout Solas, p. 65; Lafontaine, III, 18. Cf. also the tale of the Hare, the Bird, and the Cat. * Schiefner, Tibetan Tales, p. lxv. * Halm, no. 14; Furia, no. 15; Caxton's 4ºsop, ed. Jacobs, II, 197, and I, 256; Croxall, no. 128; L’Estrange, no. 2; Faerno, p. 43 ; Afanassiev, IV, no. 2 (De Gubernatis, II, 137 ; Gerber, no. 1 ; cf. no. 18, in which the cock escapes). Cf. also Schiefner, Tibetan Tales, p. 31.4 (Wolf and Sheep) and p. lxv ; Morris, Jataka, p. 110 (Panther and Kid). These last two tales naturally suggest the fable of the Wolf and the Lamb (Jacobs, I, 62 f.) : Halm, no. 274; Jacobs, I, 230; II, 5. * Mourier, p. 13; cf. also Geldart, p. 66. For the blue-stained animal, see Pantschatantra, I, no. Io; Benfey, II, 73 ff.: Hitopadesa, pp. 189, 338; Schiefner, Tibetan Tales, no. 36 and p. lxv ; Swynnerton, p. 245 (Jackal claims to be a pea- Čock); Tuti-Nameh, ed. Small, p. 114, ed. Rosen, II, 146; Krohn, B, u. F., p. 69. sº The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 45 however, the hypocrisy succeeds and the enemy, masquerading as priest, thrives." The last form of this theme that has been enumerated (see p. 38, above) — the feint of death — is too well known to need illustration. From Finland to Africa it occurs in both literary and popular tradition. “Un grand nombre d’animaux, pour échapper a un dan- ger immediat, se pelotonnent, s'immobilisent et présentent toutes les apparences de la mort. Cette ruse, tout instinctive, a certaine- ment frappé les premiers peintres des moeurs animales et ils l'ont utilisee dans leur contes, mais d'abord, comme on l’a judicieuse- ment remarqué,” en la présentant comme un moyen employé par certaines bêtes pour sauver leur vie, et, plus tard seulement, comme un moyen de duperie, quand le chacal ou le renard eurent pris une place prépondérante dans les récits d’animaux et y furent devenus l'incarnation de la ruse et de rouerie.”” The discussion of the various forms which the trick of the captor assumes brings to an end our examination of the fundamental material in the traditional Cock and Fox story. I have endeavored to show that one of the three elements which that story contains — the theme of the Pursuit by the Dogs — has in all probability been appended to the original material through the analogy of other fox adventures. The residual material of the story, then, consists of special developments of two general themes: first, the Trick by which an animal is Captured ; and second, the Counter-trick by which he Releases Himself. Each of these themes, by reason of its 1 In the Jataka, however, the Bodhisatta is usually on guard to prevent the hypocritical ascetic from carrying out his wicked intentions: see nos. 221, 277, 250, 173 (ed. Cowell). In the Dhammaddhaja Jataka (Morris, no. 1), the crow passes for a saint and so gets the office of caring for the young of birds (cf. p. 41, n. 1). She eats them, but is at last found out and pays the penalty. The fox himself, in a tale in the New Aramaic dialect, falls a victim to this theme used as a decoy. A bird persuades him to get upon its back, pretending that it will carry him to a place where he shall be a priest, and eat ass flesh daily. Then when the bird has risen high into the air with the fox, it flings him down (Prym u. Socin, p. 279). * Benfey, I, 332. * Sudre, p. 175. 46 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. general character, is naturally widely diffused. The two themes, moreover, do not necessarily appear in combination; but in the special form which they assume in the Cock and Fox story, the case is altered. The former theme, appearing as the trick by which the cock is induced to sing “oculis clausis,” is not found in oral or written literature except in combination with the latter theme. The theme of the counter-trick, on the other hand, frequently appears in the form which is peculiar to the Chantecler episode, apart from the “oculis clausis” trick. It is therefore possible that Alcuin's fable (see p. 27, above) — the earliest form of the Cock and Fox story in literary tradition — represents indeed the earliest form of the story in popular tradition: that is, a form in which there is no “oculis clausis" trick prefixed to the victim's counter-trick. And the Latin poem Gallus et Vulpes (see p. 33, above), strictly clerical though it is, may represent the further popular development of the early form of the story, through which a theme related to the tradition of John of Capua's story of the fox and sparrow was made a prelude to the trick of the cock." Ǻ From the table of typical versions of the Cock and Fox story (p. 2, above), it became evident that the Mun's Priest's Zale belongs to the epic type of the Cock and Fox narrative. The closest parallels to it, therefore, are to be sought in those epic versions of the story that have come down to us, – that is to say, in Branch ii 1 There may be a slight bit of evidence to be derived from the epigrams in the Chantecler episode. Something corresponding to the epigram which comments on the folly of the outwitted captor can be traced back to stories which are only indirectly allied to the Chantecler épisode, and which contain merely the general theme of the captive's trick (cf. p. 24, n. 2). In these stories, to be sure, the utter- ance is made as a gibe by the escaping captive, not in self-reproach by the captor as in the Chantecler episode. In two of the fables which are directly allied to the Chantecler episode, and which contain the captor's trick as well as the captive's (see the Berne Romulus, and Extravagantes, no. 3), only the epigram which belongs with the captive's trick is given. And among the epic narratives them- selves, in the version of Reinhart Fuchs, only the epigram which belongs with the captive's trick is given in the traditional words. Now, if the “ oculis clausis" trick were a later development, the epigram which belongs with the captor's trick would be likely to attain a fixed form and a fixed place in the episode later than the epigram of the captive's trick. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 47 of the Roman de Renart and in the opening episode of Reinhart Fuchs.” Whether Chaucer's Cock and Fox story takes its origin directly from the episode in the Roman de Renart, or from that in Reinhart Fuchs, or from still another version which has not survived, now remains for consideration. V. THE VERSION FROM which CHAUCER DERIVED HIS MATERIAL. A comparison of Chaucer's story with the Chantecler story in the French and German epic narratives is, in Voretzsch's opinion,” scarcely worth while, for he thinks that Chaucer's treatment of his material is so bold that no importance can be attached to agree- ments between the AVun’s Priest’s Tale and other versions. The preponderance of Chaucer's own contributions to the tale, however, seems to have obscured, in Voretzsch’s mind, the really close rela- tion which the traditional material in Chaucer's story bears to the French and German epic versions. How close that relation is will appear by arranging an analysis of the Wun's Priest's Zale beside Voretzsch's comparative table of Renart and Reinhart Fuchs.” RENART. REINHART FUCHS. NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE. Ren., ii, 25–468.4 R. F., 11–176.5 M. P. T., 1–626. 1. R. betakes himself (Cf. 41 ff.) (Cf. 395 ft.) to a village, where he ex- pects to find food. (23–29.) 1 A direct relation between the Cock and Fox story of Ysengrimus and that of the Roman de Renart and of Reinhart Fuchs cannot be made out (Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 138). The preceding adventure of the pilgrimage supplies the motive for the episode in Psengrimus. There is no trace of the dream or of Pinte (Sudre, p. 281). The cock himself has a different name. * Zr., XV, 143. Sudre is apparently of the same opinion, for he does not men- tion the English version in his discussion of the Chantecler episode. * Voretzsch, Zs., pp. 138 ff. * The table of Voretzsch is quoted word for word in most places. A few addi- tions, however, are made here and there, and in some places the order is slightly altered. - * “The prologue in R. F. has nothing to do with that of Branch ii; speaking generally, there is nothing corresponding to it in the Renart, and it apparently originates with the translator” (Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 138, n. 2). In the AVun's Priest's Tale there is also nothing corresponding to the prologue of R. F. } 48 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. RENART, 2. Here, near a wood, the well-to-do peasant," Constans des Noes,dwells. (30–33.) 3. He has a house abundantly supplied with all kinds of food : salt meat, flitches of bacon, grain, etc. (33–43) * 4. 5. 1 REINHART FUCHS. Near a village dwells a well-to-do peasant," Lan- zelin. (II-I 5.) Lanzelin has grain and corn enough. NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. Beside a grove, in a narrow cottage, dwelt a poor widow,” “a maner deye,” with her two daugh- ters. (I-26.) She finds no lack (i.e., nothing to complain of) in her modest diet, — milk and brown bread, (16–19.) * bacon, etc. (23–25) * His wife is called old (Cf. 1.) * Ruotzela.” The fox often steals her hens because the yard and garden are not fenced in. Ruotzela scolds her husband for it. (20–32.) Un vilain qui moult ert garnis, Manoit moult pres du plesèis. Ein gebäre vil riche, Der saz gemelíche Bi einem dorfe uber ein velt. Cf. also 138: Rehte him gegen dem walde. A povre widwe . . Was whylom dwelling . . . . Bisyde a grove, stondyng in a dale. Cf. also Gerard of Minden : ik wone, juwer 6k node enbere beide juwe vrouwe unde here. Plenteive estoit sa maisons. Degelines et de chapons Bien avoit garni son hostel. Assez i ot un el: Char salee, bacons et fliches. Dá hat er erbe und gelt. Korn und hirses genuoc. Vilharte ebene gienc sin pfluoc. Hir bord was served most with whyt and blak, Milk and broun breed, in which she fond no lak. Seynd bacoun. Bäbe Ruotzela daz wip sin. A povre widwe somdel stope in age. The Sources of the Wonne Prestes Tale. 49 RENART. REINHART FUCHS. NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE. 6. But the yard is shut He builds a fence. (33– She has a yard enclosed in with strong and pointed 37.)" all about “with stikkes stakes and with a thorn- and a drye dich"; * hedge.” (44–47.)" (27 f.) i 7. Here the peasant Here, he thinks, the and within it, she keeps a has put his hens. (48 f.)* cock and hens will be cock called Chantecler" safe. (38-40.) * and seven hens. (27– 8. Chantecler has no peer for crowing, for beauty, & for wisdom. (30–44.) He is lord of seven hens. (45–48.)" 1 Li courtilz estoit bien enclos De piex de chesne agus et gros. Hourdes estoit d'aubes espines. A yerd she hadde, enclosed al aboute With stikkes, and a drye dich with-oute. Cf. also A col-fox “The same night thurgh-out the hegges brast Into the yerd.” (398 f.) and Nú wanter sich durch den hac. (51.) * The ditch as well as the fence is mentioned in the poem De Vof un de Hame. (34, 38.) * The fox is called Zaunschleicher in a Transylvanian story (Haltrich-Wolff, no. 20). Cf. also “The vox kan crope bi the heie ’” (Owl and AWightingale, 817). 4 Laiens avoit misses gelines Dant Constant pour la forteresce. Dar inne want er hān behuot Schanteclèrn und sin wip. In which she hadde a cok, hight Chauntecleer. * The name Chantecler is not peculiar to the epic version. It appears in the English poem The Vox and the Wolf and in one of Odo's fables (Hervieux, II, 644). Sudre, however, thinks the name in Odo is due to a copyist (p. 313). 6 This gentil cok hadde in his governaunce Sevene hennes. Hennen weren therinne i-crope Five, that maketh anne folk, And mid hem sat on kok. (The Vox and the Wolf, 28–30.) Dar quam eyn hane her getreden: Syne vrowen brachte he al dar mede. (De Vos un de Hane, 48 f.) See also Grimm, R. F., p. ccxxxvi. 5o The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. RENART. 9. Cf. Pinte parla qui plus savoit, Celle qui les gros hues ponnoit, Qui pres du coc jucoit a destre. (89-91.) IQ. II . 12. Renart comes, but he can neither jump over the fence nor crawl under it. (50-58.) 13. He crouches in the road and ponders, (59– 70.) 14. He notices a broken? paling; he gets over it and hides him- self. (71 f.) 15. There were cab- bages planted where the fence was broken. R. let himself fall in a heap among them, so that peo- ple should not see him. (75–77.) 16. But the hens have through the hedge. REINHART FUCHS. One day, at sunrise, Reinhart 1 goes to the barnyard after Ch. (41- 46.) The fence is too close and too high for him. (47.) With his teeth he pulls out a slat and crawls (48– 53.) - Cf. “hérre und trút, Ich sach sich regen in jenem krät 1” (75 f.) Pinte perceives it” and NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. The fairest is Pertelote. (49–56.) Their joy and their song. (56–61.) Cf. That night the fox burst through the hedges into the yard. (398 f.) Cf. And in a bed of herbs lay still till undern was passed. (401 f.) * The name Renart is found also in the Flemish oral version, in Odo's fables (Hervieux, II, 622, 644, noted by Sudre, p. 313), and in the two poems 7%e Vox and the Wolf and De Vos un de Hame. In the Low German poem, however, it is the fox's father who bears the name Reynolt. (71.) * Cf. the breaks in the wall in The Vox and the Wolf (17 ff.): Al fort he come to one walle, And som therof wes a faile, And wes the wal over aſ to-breke. * “Pinte sin gewar wart.” The translation of sfn is not certain. The context points to Reinhart; but one is tempted to translate it with Voretzsch: “Pinte gewahrt die Bewegung,”—because then there is no inconsistency with what fol- V The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 51 RENART, / seen him and flee. (78– & 8o.) 17. Chantecler the cock comes proudly by. (81–86.) 18. He asks the hens why they flee. Pinte re- plies that they have seen a wild beast. Ch. tries to quiet their fears; but Pinte has seen the cab- bages moving. (87-107.) 19. Ch. assures her that she is safe in the yard and bids her go back there. (108-113.) 20. He himself goes back again to his old place. 21. He does not know what hangs over his head and like a fool, he fears nothing. (114-124.) 22. He goes to sleep and dreams that a crea- REINHART FUCHS. NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE. wakes Ch. and with her companions flies upon a beam. (54–58.) Ch. comes up in haste. Cf. Roial he was, he (59.) was na-more aferd. (356.) (Cf. 75–82.) Ch. bids the hens re- turn to their former place, for in this enclosed gar- den they are safe. (60– 64.) Cf. “O Chauntecleer, accursed be that morwe, That thou into that yerd flough fro the bemes Thou were ful well y- warned by thy dremes, That thilke day was peril- ous to thee. But what that God forwot mot nedes be.” (410—414.) One day at daybreak, Ch. begins to groan in (Cf. 65–70.) 1 lows. Pinte's advice to Chantecler (“Vlieget àf disen dorn") appears plainly to be well meant if she does not know that it is the fox who made the commotion in the cabbages. Cf. Voretzsch, Zs, XV, 142. 1 Et avoit un rospelicon Dont li ourlet estoient d'os. Wie ich in einem rôten belliz solde sin, Das houbetſoch was beinin. 52 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. RENART, ture holds out a red fur coat, and the opening at the neck was made of bone. This coat he makes Ch. put on. (125–160.)” 23. It was so narrow at the throat that Ch, is greatly oppressed and can hardly wake out of his dream. (149–151.) He apprehends trouble. (157–160.)” 24. He wakes and calls upon the Holy . Spirit. (161–164.) * 25. Then he goes quickly to the hens and takes Pinte aside. (165– I71.) 26. He tells her that he is afraid of being be- trayed in some way. She rebukes him for his faint- heartedness. (172–185.) * REINHART FUCHS. NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. his throat, like a man who is oppressed with a bad dream. (62–67.) 1 (Cf. 331-333.)” (Cf. 72–74.) (Cf. 76 f.) Pertelote asks what is the matter. (68-71.) (Cf. 87–100.) * 1 Isaugh a beste, * See no. 30. Was lyk an hound, and wolde han maad areste Upon my body, and wolde han had me deed. His colour was bitwixe yelwe and reed. * Que bien cuide estre malbailliz Por le vision que a veiie, Dont il a grant peor oiie. Shortly I Seye, as for conclusioun, That I shal han of this avisioun Adversitee. 4 “Avoi!” fait Pinte, “baus dos sire, Ice ne deves vos pas dire. Mau fetes quinos esmaies. (177–179.) Vos resembles le chen qui crie Ains que la pierre soit cuče. Por qu'aves tel poor otief'' (182 ff.) “Avoy 1” quod she, “fly on yow, herteles 1’ (87.) “How dorste ye sayn for shame unto youre love, That any thing mighte make yow aferd?” (98 f.) The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 53 RENART. 27. He tells her his dream in detail (as above, 133 ff.): that he saw a beast, clothed in a red fur coat, with the opening at the neck made of bone. This he made Ch. put on. (186-21 I.) 28. Ch. says: “Pinte, ne vos en merveilliez, se li cuers me fremist et tramble.” (212 f.) 29. Mes dites moi que vos en semble. Molt sui por le songe grevez. Par cele foi que me devez, Savez vos que se sene- fie 2 (214–217.) 30. (Cf. 161–164.)” 31. (Cf. 172–176.) (186 ff.)? REINHART FUCHS. But he himself has had a dream: it seemed as if he were in a red fur coat with an opening at the neck, made of bone. (65– 70.) (Cf. 72–74) 1 He apprehends trouble. (71.)” 1 Li cos et dist, “seint esperiz, Garis hui mon cors de prison Et met a sauve garison 1" “Dem heiligen engel si ez geseit Der erscheine mirz ze guote Mir ist swaere ze muote.” NUN's PRIEST's TALE. , Ch. says, he dreamed that a yellowish red beast with two glowing eyes / came after him. (71–85) & Ch. says: “Madame, I pray you, that ye take it nat agrief: By God, me mette I was in swich meschief Right now, that yet myn herte is sore afright. (72–75.) He prays God to in- terpret the dream aright and to keep him from capture. (76 f.)" Even yet Ch. is almost (86 f.) * dead with fear. “Now God,” quod he, “my swevene rede aright, And keep my body out of foul prisoun l” 2 Pinte, n'i a mester celee. Molt sui dolanz et esbahiz. Grant poor ai destre traiz D'oisel ou de beste sauvage, Quitost puet fere damage 1 (Chantecler, 172–176.) 54 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. RENART, 32. (Cf. 161–164.) 33. Pinte says that the terrifying thing that Ch. saw in his dream is the fox. So she explains the de- tails of the dream. (218– 254.) 34. Cf. Ch. says that he will not be influenced by this dream. (267–269.) 35- 36. 37. REIN HART FUCHS. (Cf. also 78–82.) And calls upon Holy Spirit. (72–74.) Pinte has noticed some- thing suspicious among the cabbages. the } She apprehends trouble Bo Ch. (75–82.) Cf. Ch. says ironically: “This is indeed true, that dreams often explain themselves seven years after.” (86–88.) WOS ne SaVes Que j'ai songie un songe estrange. Et une avision molt male, Por qoi vos me vees si pale. Ich fürhte, daz sin arbeit. Hie ist, ich enweiz, waz übeles inne. Der riche got beschirme dich Mir gāt ilber erklich, Mir grãet så, ich fürhte wir Ze noeten komen. (Pinte, 80–82.) Shortly I seye, . . . That I shal han of this avisioun Adversitee. (Chantecler, 332 f.) Yet of his look for fere almost I deye; This caused me my groning, douteles. (Chantecler, 86 f.) NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. (Cf. also 332 f.) (Cf. 76 f.) Pertelote scorns his fears. (88–Ioo.) Cf. Pertelote's explana's tion of this dream. (Ioo— 119.) She says that dreams are nothing but vanity. (IoI f.) She explains this dream as due to excess of humours. (Ioo—I 19.) Quotes Cato; advises Ch. to take some herbs and dread no dream. (120–149.) Ch. thanks P. and quotes his “authors ” on the importance of dreams. (Chantecler, 186 f.) (Schantecler, 71.) (Pinte, 78 f.) The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale, 55 RENART. 38. Cf. no. 31 of this table. 39. 40. Cf. Ch. is indig- nant at Pinte's fears. (259-267.) 41. Cf. And refuses to believe in her interpre- tation of this dream. (268 f.) 42. She advises him to go back to his place, be- cause the fox is lurking about. (255–258.) 43. It is now nearly noon. (252 f.)” 44. Nevertheless, Ch. refuses to believe P.'s in- terpretation of the dream. (259-275.) 45. Ch. goes back to his former place and again goes to sleep. (276–278.) 1 Both Cicero and Valerius Maximus give these two stories. REINHART FUCHS, Cf, no. 31. Ch. laughs at woman’s fears. (83–85.) And ridicules the in- terpretation of dreams. (86–88.) She charges him for his children's sake to take care of himself, and to fly upon the thorn- bush. (89–98.) (Cf. 83–88.) Ch. flies upon the thorn- bush. (99.). © NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. Two examples [from Valerius Maximus]; 1 the \ legend of Kenelm; the au- thority of Macrobius, the Old Testament (Daniel, Joseph, Pharaoh); the ex- amples of Croesus, An- dromache. (149–331) Ch. dreads the import of this dream and scorns herbs. (331-336.) Turns to pleasure and to praise of Pertelote. (337-342.) Ch. expounds “Mulier est confusio hominis.” (343–346.) And finally defies dreams. (346-351.) (Cf. 401–403.)” Ch. flies down from the beam and calls his hens. (352–355.) For evidence which makes it probable that Chaucer quotes from Valerius Maximus rather than from Cicero, see p. 109 f. below. * Ainz que voiez passe midi, Vos avandra. And in a bed of wortes stille he lay, Till it was passed undern of the day, Wayting his tyme on Chauntecleer to falle. 56 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. RENART. 46. Cf. Ch. comes up proudly and assures the frightened hens, by his faith, that they have noth- ing to fear. (85–88.) 47. 48. 49. 50. Cf. R. betakes him- self to a village where he expects to find food. (23– 29.) 51. Cf. There were cab- bages planted where the fence was broken, R. let himself fall in a heap among them, so that peo- ple should not see him. (73–77.) 52. 53. 54. REINHART FUCHS. Cf. One day, at sun- rise, R. goes to the barn- yard after Ch. (41-46.) Cf. “herre und trät, ich sach sich regen in jenem krät.” (75 f.) NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE, Ch. is no more afraid. He roams up and down like a grim lion, hardly deigning to set foot to , ground. Surrounded by ss, his wives in his pasture, he is royal as a prince in . his hall. (356–366.) Another day. It is the third of May and Ch. is full of pride and bliss. (367–383.) But the end of joy is woe. (384–389.) Now, let every wise man listen to a story that is as true as Launcelot de Lake. (390–394.) A col-fox, by pre-ordi- nation from above, that night had broken through the hedges. (394-400.) He had been lying quietly in a bed of herbs, until almost noon, wait- ing his chance to fall upon Ch. (400–403.) As homicides will, lying in wait to murder men. (404–406.) O Judas, O Ganelon, O Sinon (407-409.) Accursed be that morn- ing when Ch. disregarded the warning of his dream. (410–413.) Perhaps it was fore-N ordained; but whether it j was due to simple or conditional necessity or free will, I leave that to i 1. A s The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 57 RENART. REINHART FUCHS. NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE. Augustine or Boethius or ) Bradwardyn. This tale | is of a cock that unhap- pily 1 took his wife's ad- vice. (414–435.) Women's counsels oft - 56. bring woe. (436–439.) At least, so authors 57. say, but these are the cock's words, not mine. (440-446.) - 58. * P. and Ch. enjoy them-- selves in the sun and sing . like the mermaid in the sea that Physiologus tells about. (447-452.) 59. When he sees that Ch. is asleep. (279-283) R., who knows so many Cf. R. “gienge zuo dem Cf. “A col-fox, full of tricks, approaches Ch. hove mit sinnen.” (43.) sly iniquitee.” (395.) (284–290.)” 60. And makes an at- tack upon the sleeping Ch., who saves himself by springing aside. (291– 296.) “, 61. Ch. sees the fox and \ cries “cok, cok 1" in fear; A for a beast instinctively +. flees its natural enemy. (453-461.) 62. R. then tries to be. R. will bring him down guile Ch. (296–302.) * by guile. (Ioo-IoS.) * 1 But “with sorwe” is doubtless a curse, as very frequently in Middle English. * Cf. also Renars, Qui tant par fu de males ars Et qui tant sot toz jors de guile, S'en vint. (32-36.) 8 Cf. Haec [the fox] tarditatis conscia Dolo parat insidias. (Gallus et Vulpes, 10 f.) 58 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. RENART. 63. He begs Ch. as his cousin not to flee; Ch. is at once satisfied. (303– 308.) 64. 65. R. asks Ch. wheth- er he still remembers his father, Chanteclin. (309– 31 I.) 66, 67. Cf. nos. 63 and 69. 68. R. praises Chante- clin as a good singer who sang with closed eyes. (312–318.) 69. 7o. Ch. doubts R.'s sin- cerity, R., however, tries REINHART FUCHS. He asks Ch. whether he is Sengelin ; no, that was my father, replies Ch. (Ioé–109.) R. deplores Sangelin's death and praises his man- ners. (I Io—I 12.) R. says, – trust among kindred is a joy, but Ch. is too reserved. Sengelin was a friend of R.'s father, and he never sat so high when he saw R.'s father. Rather, he flew to wel- come him, late or early." (I 13-123.) And sang to him with both eyes closed. (124 f.) 1 Ouch vermieter nie, ern swunge sine vitechen ie, ez wasre späte oder vruo. Wen he sank spade efte wro, - So dede he de ogen to. (Gerard of Minden, 31 f.) Men wan he sank spade unde vro, Altyt dede he de egen tå. (Anon. L. G. AEsop, 15 f.) NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE. Fox begs Ch. not to flee from a friend who has, only come to hear him sing. (462-470.) For truly, Ch. sings with more feeling than Boe- thius, (471-474.) The fox speaks of the \ pleasure he took in they visits of Ch.'s father and, mother. (475–478.) ..." And tells how well his father sang with both eyes closed in the effort. (478– 488.) Ch.'s father was a very wise cock. The cock in Daun Burnel the Ass is not to be compared with him. (489–499.) Cf. the fox's claim of old acquaintance with (R. F., 121-123.) The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 59 RENART. to convince Ch. of his good faith by an appeal to their blood-relationship, and begs him to sing. (319-326.) 71. Ch. does not really believe him but he sings, at the same time keeping one eye open and watch- ing the fox. (327–340.) * 72. The fox says: Chanteclin always shut both eyes. (341-344) 73. 74. 75. Without mistrust Ch. does the same. (341- 347.) 76. Then R. seizes” him by the neck and flees. (348.) REINHART FUCHS. In order to be just as affable as his father, Ch. begins to beat his wings and flies down from the thorn-bush. (126–130.) The silly bird was too eager and soon had cause to repent. (131 f.) He sings with closed eyes. (133.) Then R. seizes” him by the head. (I 34.) NUN'S PRIEST’S TALE, Ch.'s father and mother. (475–478.) The fox begs Ch. to emulate his father. Ch. begins to beat his wings (500–502) like one who could not de- tect treachery because he was so ravished with flat- tery. (503 f.) Alas, and beware, Lords, of flattery I Read Eccle- siasticus. (505–5Io.) Ch. sings with closed eyes. (51 I-513.) Daun Russel, the fox, seizes” Ch. by the gargat and makes for the wood. (514-516.) 1 Though this trait of the Renart version — the cock's singing first with one eye closed and later with both eyes closed — belongs to the oldest written version of the story as well as to others (see p. 83, n. 1, below), it is probably in the Renart account merely a later addition made by a poet who was working over the episode (Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 146). The fact that this trait is not found in AV. P. Z. supports Voretzsch's theory. 2 Le prent Renars parmi le col. Bf dem houbete nam in Reinhart. And by the gargat hente Chauntecleer. Cf. also the lines of the Roman d’Alexandre : “Li Grezois les engignent com Renars fist legal. Qu'il saisi par la gorge quantil chantoit clinal.” (See p. 33, n. 3, above.) - 6o The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. RENART, 77. Cf. “Ne set gaires q'a l'eil li pent. Rien ne douta: si fist que fox.” (120 f.) 78. 79. 8o. 81. Pinte sees it and laments.] (353–368.) 82. 83. 84. It is evening and the peasant's wife wishes to get in her hens. She misses Bise and Rosete; she calls Ch. and sees the fox carrying him off. Then she pursues him but cannot overtake him. (369-382.) 85. She cries “Harou !” REINHART FUCHS. Pinte laments." (135) R. makes straight for the wood. (136–138.) & Lanzelin comes up at and the peasants hear it the cry of the hens. and come up. She tells (139 f.) them about the cock's - misadventure, and Con- stans scolds her. (383– 401.) * 1 Moult commence a dementer. N UN’S PRIEST’S TALE. O Destiny, that cannot be escaped 1 (518.) Alas, that Ch.’s wife scorned dreams 1 (519 f.) This happened on a Friday, Venus's day. (521-526.) Oh, for the power of Master Geoffrey to inveigh against Friday ! (527– 535.) * The lamentation of ladies for their husbandsº at Troy, or at camp, or at Rome, did not equal | the hens' cries. And Per- telotel surpasses them all! (536-554) j Cf. And on his bak toward the wode him beer. (516.) The widow and her two daughters hear the cry of the hens and run out. (555–557) Pinte schrei und begunde sich missehaben. But sovereynly dame Pertelote shrighte. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 61 RENART. 86. They see R. as he goes through the opening in the fence; they pursue him with dogs. (402–417.) 87. 88. 89. 90. Ch., in his peril, prompts the fox to gibe at his pursuers. As soon, however, as the fox opens his mouth to say the cock's REINHART FUCHS. Ch. prompts the fox to speak; so soon as he opens his mouth to say “Ja, ich, Sammir Rein- hart, Ir gat eine uppige NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. They see the fox with the cock making for the wood and they cry: “Out, Harrow !” All pursue the fox, — men, dogs, geese, bees, etc. (558– 572.) The noise is as great as that of a Jack Straw mob. (572-581.) } Now, good men, listen. (582.) Lo, how Fortune turns the pride of her enemy. (583 f.) This cock, in all his fear, prompts the fox to gibe at his pursuers. The fox opens his mouth to speak the cock's words, words, “Maugrez vos- vart,” Ch. flies upon a “Maugree your heed,” tre,” etc., the cock es- tree." (141–151.) etc., but only gets as far capes and flies upon a as, “In feith, it shal be tree.1 (418-437.) don,” when the cock flies high upon a tree.” (585– 597.) 3. 91. R. is sad at this.” = (152).” (438–440.) 92. Fox begs the cock to \ come down and find out ſ what he meant. (597–605.) 1. Et vint volant sur un pomier, Er vlouc zuo der stunde Úf einem boum. And heighe upon a tree he fleigh anon. * Renars fu bas sor un fomier, Greins et maris et trespenses. Reinhart harte trfirec was. Cf. also Marie: “Ez-le vos mate correcie”; and Gallus et Vulpes: Hinc indignata duriter Fixit gradum celeriter, Sicque mente malivola Intorquet imprecamina, 62 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. RENART. 93. Ch. mocks the fox. (441–443.) 94. R. invokes shame upon the mouth that speaks out of season.” (444-448.) 95, Ch. says, “Misfor- tune come upon the eye of him who sleeps at the wrong time.* (449–452.) REIN HART FUCHS. Ch. mocks the fox, say- ing that the way seemed long to him, and he does not care to repeat the journey.” (I 52–16O.) R. invokes shame upon him who makes a reply to his own hurt or who speaks at the wrong time.” (161–166.) Ch. answers, “It is good to be on one's guard at all times.” (167–169.) NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. The cock replies, “I, curse us both, if you be. . guile me more than once; and you shall no more f- : A. with your flattery make me sing and shut my eyes. . (606–610) Ch. says, “May he never prosper who shuts his eyes when he should keep them open.38 (611 f.) The fox says, “Ill luck come to him that chatters when he should hold his peace.* (613-615.) 1 Something like this idea appears in Gerard of Minden: So ik beholde minen sin, wil ik bewaren, dat gi ne dregen minicht mér oft worelegen. 2 La bouche, fet-il, soit honie Qui s'entremet de noise fere A l'eure qu’ele se doit tere. Erist tump, . . . Der mit schaden richet, Daz man im gesprichet Oder swer danne ist klaffens vol, Sö er von rehte swigen sol. (74-76.) For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee * In Renart, Reinhart Fuchs, the Anglo-Latin Romulus, and Marie, the epigram of the captive's trick comes first. In Chaucer and Bromyard, on the other hand, the epigram of the captor's trick comes first. 4 La male gote li cret l'oil Qui s'entremet de someller A l’ore que il doit veiller. Er waere Weizgot niht alwaere Swer sich behuotet ze aller zft. God give him mischaunce, That is so undiscreet of governaunce, That jangleth whan he sholde holde his pees rs. s The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 63 RENART. REINHART FU CHS. NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. 96. He wants nothing more to do with R. (453– 459) 97. Lanzelin draws near. (17o f.) 98. R. goes off hungry (172–176.) and complaining. (460– 468.) 99. Lo, such is flattery. Good men, take the moral from this tale of a Cock, & and Hen. And God bring } º us all to bliss! (616–626) } This comparative table of the three epic versions Rem., R. F., and AV. P. Z. shows how freely Chaucer introduced new material into his story. But it also shows that the traits of the traditional epic material which he retained are numerous and significant. There \ * are traits which are common to the AWun's Priest's Zale and Renart alone, traits which are common to the Mum's Priest's Zale and Rein- ) hart Fuchs alone, and traits in which the Mun's Priest's Tale stands ſ “apart from the other two versions. Hence, the AVun's Priest's Zale, f while it belongs to the tradition represented by the French and Cf. also Incurrat lingua pustulas, Quam possidet loquacitas, Cum est dampnosum proloqui Neque sic valet comprimi. Has incurrant et oculi, Qui sponte Semet oculunt, Cum, imminet periculum. Gallus et Vulpes, sts, 33-34. * Vae sibi qui loquitur, cum melius deberet tacere. . . . Vae sibi qui claudit oculos, cum potius eos deberet aperire. Anglo-Latin Romulus. Eli gopil . . . . Cumança la buche à maldire Qui parole qant se deit tere; Li Cox respunt, Si deis-geo fere Maudire l'ueil qui vieut cluignier Alors que il devreit veillier. Marie. 64 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. | German versions, is not from the Roman de Renart and not from } Reinhart Fuchs or from any French poem of which Reinhart Fuchs may be supposed to be a close translation." With regard to the traditional epic material, the Mun’s Priest’s Zale differs from both Ren, and R. F. in the following particulars: 1. The order of incidents, which is affected by the lateness of the appearance of the fox in M. P. Z. 2. The absence of the following features of the other versions: i. The fox's preliminary trial of the fence and the manner of his final success. ii. The hen's sight of the fox and the following approach of ~ Chantecler and his re-assuring words to the hens. iii. The tendency to allegory in the details of the dream. 3. Difference in the assignment of the rôle of skepticism con- cerning the interpretation of dreams (the cock is skeptical in Ren, and R. F.; the hen in AV. P. T.). 4. The poverty of the woman who owns the cock, and the disap- pearance of the husband who figures in both the other versions. 5. A description of the cock's surprise and terror at the first sight of the fox. 6. The use of names. In all these six particulars, Ren, and R. F. agree together against M. P. Z. It is therefore possible that the epic material, in these six points, was approximately the same for Chaucer as for Rem. and A'. F., and that the divergence of AV. P. Z., at these six points, is due to Chaucer himself. This possibility becomes a probability in every case in which grounds of artistic convenience or of special intention on Chaucer's part can be shown for the divergence in question. T- For the first peculiarity of the W. P. Z., which to a considerable extent involves the second, and for the third and fourth, such a 1 The possibility that Reinhart Fuchs may be a close translation of its original is here suggested, not to help out the argument, but only to make the statement of it exhaustive. Voretzsch has already shown that there is no reason to doubt that the poet of Reinhart Fuchs handled his material with some freedom (Zs., XV, 147). The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 65 reason can be found. In the case of the fifth peculiarity, on the other hand, it may be that Chaucer's source had preserved a tradi- tional trait, from which both Ren. and R. F. have diverged. With regard to the sixth peculiarity of M. P. T., evidence that would justify an hypothesis either way is still to seek, . The first point of divergence in M. P. Z. — the lateness of the appearance of the fox — may easily be ascribed to Chaucer's own | authorship, on artistic grounds. He was writing a tale of a cock and a hen who were personages of heroic importance. In the epic material at hand, he probably found the arrangement of incident with regard to the fox's appearance much the same as it is in Ren. and R. F.; that is, the fox appears in the very beginning of the story and then lies hidden until after the dream. The different arrangement in AV. P. Z. keeps the interest in suspense and at the same time prevents any third character from claiming our attention while Chantecler and Pertelote are upon the scene. The postponement of the entrance of the fox being granted, other changes follow in consequence. Various features common to Ren. and R. F. have their origin in the fact that the hens see the fox at his early appearance. These agreements between Ren. and R. F. are: the panic of the hens, their flight, and Chantecler's re-assur- ing words. They do not occur in M. P. Z. Now if Chaucer found these details in his source, his postponement of the fox's appear- ance would have forced him either to give them new motives or to omit them altogether. The question is, did they occur in Chaucer's source, or did this present at this point a simpler version of the story than that shown in Ren, and R. F. 2 The source of AV. P. Z. in every other important particular — the question of names necessa- rily being set aside — seems to agree with the account that can be reconstructed from the other two versions. Added to this, a good reason exists why these details should have been omitted by Chaucer. It is the natural conclusion, therefore, that Chaucer found these details in his source and, on deferring the º of the fox, omitted the attendant circumstances altogether. ! Another peculiarity of omission which may be ascribed to Chaucer is the fox's preliminary trial of the fence. This trait would neces- sarily be postponed in connection with the postponement of the 66 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. appearance of the fox. Then, doubtless, coming as it would near the close, it would be crowded out by the rapid progress of the story. - * * The difference in the assignment of the rôle of skepticism con- cerning dreams is more certainly Chaucer's own than any other peculiarity in the animal-epic portion of the M. P. Z. In A. F., Chantecler laughs at dreams. In Ren, he refuses to be influenced by his dream. But in M. P. Z., the cock dreads his dream even when he resolves to defy it, and it is the hen who is skeptical and who calls dreams vanity. Why Chaucer should have reversed the order of things as it occurs in Ren, and R. F., -— an order of things, moreover, that seems to be the conventional one, – and should have , put the woman in the incredulous rôle, will be discussed under the head of Chaucer's own contributions to the AV. P. Z. (see pp. 92, 94 f., below). The description of the dream in the M. P. Z. differs from the Ren, and R. F. accounts in being purely literal and concrete. In Rem, the dream is given with much figurative detail. R. F. is much less detailed, but still figurative. But in M. P. Z., Chantecler dreams that his death is threatened by a real beast with small snout and glowing eyes; his dream does not refer to his putting on a fur coat with a bony opening at the neck, as in Ren. and R. F. In Ren., Chantecler asks Pinte, “Savez-vos que ce senefie?” and Pinte works out the meaning of the allegory with deliberate care. In R. F., to be sure, Chantecler does not ask Pinte to interpret the dream, and she offers no explanation of it: she simply expresses her fear that trouble is in store. But, after laughing at her forebodings, Chantecler goes on to ridicule the interpretation of dreams: “We often notice – ’t is true indeed — that many a dream interprets itself — seven years after l’” Now, since no one has interpreted his dream, it is possible that R. F. has abridged its original at this point, and that, in that original, as in Ren., Pinte offered some inter- pretation of the allegorical dream." In that case the interpretation 1 Chantecler's remarks on the interpretation of dreams may be, of course, only a continuation of his scorn for Pinte's unfounded apprehensions. But, taken in connection with the fact that an interpretation of the dream does follow at this The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 67 of a more or less allegorical dream belongs to an early stage of the story, and Chaucer's source, perhaps, contained something of the 2- kind. The elaborate discussion of dreams and their interpretation which we find in M. P. Z. favors this view. It would have been more readily suggested to Chaucer if his original contained an alle- gorical dream carefully explained than if it contained a vivid and literal dream like that which Chantecler relates to Pertelote. Another peculiarity of the M. P. Z. — the poverty of the woman who owns the cock and the disappearance of the peasant who figures in both the other versions (No. 4, p. 64, above) — may have had its origin in Chaucer's source. In A. F. the wife of Lanzelin is made conspicuous: it is old Ruotzela who calls the hens hers. Now, though in Branch ii of Æen, the wife of Constans des Noes does not appear until after the fox carries off the cock, there is another branch in which the wife of the peasant becomes prominent as the protector of the fowls. In Branch ix, which Voretzsch has shown to be more closely related to R. F., at this point, than is Branch ii, the wife of Lietart scolds him and finally advises him how to save the cock, just as Ruotzela does in A'. F. It seems, then, as if in the earlier form of the story the dominant rôle had been given to the woman. Perhaps some version took up and car- ried further the idea of the old wife's interest in the fowls, until the woman's figure alone survived, as in AV. P. Z. * The disappearance. of the husband may then have involved the change in the worldly circumstances of the woman, for well-to-do women without hus- bands were not typical figures of mediaeval life. Nevertheless, since neither of the other versions shows the solitary figure of the woman, or her poverty, it is certainly safer to suppose that both these traits point in Ren, they certainly suggest that there was also an interpretation in the source of R. F. Besides, the peculiarly allegorical character of the dream in Ren. and R. F. hardly justifies itself unless an interpretation of the allegory follows. ! Zr., XV, 144 f. * In one of the Highland Gaelic versions it is “the wife to whom the cock belonged ” who discovers the fox's theft. In the Walloon version that in other respects resembles the Highland story so closely, “le proprietaire du coc" figures at this place. (See p. 8, n. 4, above.) 68 The Sources of the Monne Presſes Zale. were changes made by Chaucer. In this case Chaucer's original • may be supposed to have shown both figures, the woman and her } husband,” and to have shown them in their prosperity. It is, more- / over, easy to imagine Chaucer himself working these changes with a view to making the poverty, the homely simplicity, and the widowed state of the woman serve as a foil to the high breeding and elegant ... manners and conversation of Chantecler and Pertelote. There is one peculiarity of AV. P. Z. (No. 5, p. 64, above) which seems to be a bit of traditional material that has been preserved in AV. P. Z. and discarded in Aden, and R. F. When the fox comes gº (into the view of Chantecler, it seems as if the cock should display 2 some fear and surprise. In M. P. Z. this is provided for, but in A'. A. the cock shows no consternation whatever. Ken. has been too much worked over at this point to be illustrative. It may be that this trait is entirely the contribution of Chaucer's own genius, but it belongs so naturally with the story that it seems more likely to be a survival of an early trait which the AV. P. Z. has alone pre- served. This latter view is rather supported by the fact that in both A'en, and M. P. Z. there follows an assurance of good faith on the part of the fox. - In the use of names the AV. P. Z. is peculiar, but it furnishes almost no evidence whether the names are due to Chaucer or to his original. The name Chantecler is the only name used in the story that agrees with the names used in the other two versions. Chan- tecler's father, the Chanteclin of Renart and the Senge/in of Reinhart Aruchs, receives no name at all in AV. A. Z. The hen is called Per- telote instead of Pinte (her name in both the other versions). Chau- cer's fox is only once called by name, and then the name is not A'enart, but ZXaun Russel. Any argument, therefore, that can be drawn from Chaucer's use of names will be slight. The omission of a name, as in the case of Chanteclin, proves nothing. Where Chaucer got the name Pertelote 1 In the Cock and Fox fable of Gerard of Minden (circa 1405) the fox says to the cock: “Your mistress and your lord could hardly do without you.” (See above, p. 48, n.) Gerard's fable belongs to the tradition of the Anglo-Latin Romulus; but this trait, which is probably epic in character, is not found in the A’omulus or in Marie, - The Sources of the AVonne Presſes Zale. 69 —whether it occurred instead of Pinte in his original or whether he introduced it himself—is still an unsolved problem. His use of the name Æussel,” however, may be significant, for the tradi-T tional name of the fox, Renart, is found in the other two versions, and it had been known in English since the poem of The Vox and the Wolf, which goes back at least to the thirteenth century.” And what is more, Chaucer himself uses the name Renart for the fox in the Zegend of Good Women.” The word Renart, moreover, is ...” 1 The fox's second son is Rossel in Reinaert. “Quam mijn joncste soon Rosseel” (II, 4464). * Ten Brink (Gesch. d, engl. Zit, bk. iii, part iii) assigns The Vox and the Wolf to the same time and neighborhood as ZXame Siria ; and the fabliau of Dame Siriz existed probably before the death of Henry III. See also Brandl, Paul's Grund. riss, 629, and Mätzner, I, 130. There is a version of this Fox and Wolf story in the contes of Nicole Bozon (no. 128, De mala societate fugienda, Fabula ad idem), which were probably compiled in the early part of the fourteenth century (see P. Meyer's Introd., p. ii). The French conte points to the establishment of this story in lºnglish literature, for the fox's victim, -in this case the sheep, — when he finds himself betrayed, utters this lament in English verse: Was it nevere my kind Chese in wellez grond to fynde. See folk-lore versions of this story in Harris, R., no. 16; Joos, I, no. 80; Halt- rich, no. Ioo; and cf. also Bérenger-Féraud, pp. 51 ff.: Coelho, p. 13. For literary versions, see Petrus Alfonsus, pp. 144 ff. (cf. Journ. of Amer. Folk-Lore, VI, 253); Odo (IIervieux, old ed., II, 609, new ed., IV, 192 ; Voigt, K7. Denêm., p. 116); John of Sheppey, Hervieux, old ed., II, 778, new ed., IV, 441 ; Goedeke, p. 649; Liedersaal, no. 93, p. 594. Cf. L'Estrange, no. 4 Io = Decourdemanche, no. 31; the editor of the Turkish fable refers it to Abstemius, no. 115, but L’Estrange does not class this fable with his translations from Abstemius. Cf. also Phaedrus, iv, no. 9 (Hervieux, old ed., II, 41, new ed., II, 45); Caxton’s Aºsop, ed. Jacobs, I, 256; II, Remicius, no. 3. For a study of this adventure, see Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 352–361; cf. also for epic versions, Sudre, pp. 226–236; Martin, Observ., p. 34 f. - 8 “As doth the fox, Renard.” Z. G. W., 2448. The animal names found . in Chaucer are as follows: Bayard, 7, and C., i, 218; C. Y. T., 860. — Brok, Freres 7ale, 245. — Burnel, M. P. T., 492. — Chantecler, AV. P. 7., passim. — Chichevache, Clerkes Tale, 1132. — Colle, M. P. T., 563 (in H. F., 1277, Colle is the name of a juggler). — Grisel, Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan, 35. Grisel means a grey horse, but it is here applied to an old man whose hair is grey (Skeat, Glor- - sary). Professor Kittredge calls attention to the same use of the word in Gower : - 2 “Cf. the words of Venus to Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. viii, ed. Pauli, III, 356 : . 7o Zhe Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. '**ºn: just as pliable in iambic metre as the word Russel. There is pparently, then, no good reason' why Chaucer should have changed the name Renart to Russel, had it occurred in his original. The probability, therefore, is that Chaucer has preserved the name Russel from his original. ties of the M. P. Z. may, as we have seen, be explained as due to \ The matter of names being set aside, all the important peculiari- Chaucer's own changes. His source, then, approximates the tradi- ‘And though thou feigne a yong corage, It sheweth well by thy visage, That olde grisel is no fole.’” (Studies and Wotes, I, 117, n.) — Malle, M. P. T., 1 1. — Pertelote, M. P. Z., passim. – Renard, L. G. W., 2448. — Russel, M. P. 7, 514. — Scot, Freres Tale, 245. — Mr. Skeat would add the names Talbot and Gerland (AV. P. Z., 563) to this list. I have omitted these two names because I prefer to regard them as the names of persons in the AVun's Priest’s Tale rather than of dogs. Brož, Colle, and Scot are special names of uncertain origin which belong to particular animals. Pertelote, of course, must be disregarded. Of the names that remain, Malle and Renard represent the cate- gory of proper names borne by animals; and Bayard, Burmel, Chantecler, Chiche- vache, Griseſ, and Russel belong to the class of animal names which are chosen from a characteristic attribute. The name Russel suggests the red or yellowish-red color that so terrified Chantecler in his dream. Chaucer dwells on this color again where Pertelote attributes the dream to excess of red choler. In one of the Highland Gaelic versions (Campbell, III, 93) the fox is called the Russet Dog, and in an allied Scotch story (ibid., I, 267) he is called Rory, a name which the editor explains as a corruption of a Gaelic proper name meaning “hair of fox color.” The fox is also called in the Highlands Madadh Ruadh, “the red-brown dog.” The same type of names may be found in India. With Russel may be compared the name of the lion in the Pantschatantra (bk. i, Benfey, II, 8) Pingalaka, “the dark-yellow one.” And with Chantecler may be compared the name of the jackal (ibid., i, Io; Benfey, II, 73) Tschandarava, “the one with the horrible voice” (Voretzsch, Preuss. Jahrb., LXXX, 463). On the other hand, proper names are not uncommonly given to animals in folk-lore. Cf. the proper names that the fox bears in Russian, Finnish, and other folk-lore: Michel (Finnish), Lizaveta (Russian), Marja (Greek-Albanian) (Voretzsch, ibid., 464). In a Scotch poem the fox is called Lawrence: see Ban- natyne M.S., Hunterian Club ed., p. 112, st. I4, v. 3. 1. It is, of course, conceivable that Chaucer used the name Russel with the idea of carrying out the description of the beast whose “colour was bitwixe yelwe and reed.” But such an explanation is more fanciful than probable. 7,Whe Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 71 tion which is common to Ren. and R. F. But with which of these two versions, Ren. or R. F., is the AV. P. Z. more closely allied ? Evidence in this question is afforded by the traits in which Ren. and M. P. T. agree in opposition to R. F., and by the traits in which A'. F. and AV. P. Z. agree in opposition to Ren. The traits which represent such an agreement between Ren. and M. P. Z. will first be examined in order to discover whether these agreements repre- sent traits in which R. F. tradition may be supposed to have diverged from the condition of the story represented by the lost source of AV. P. Z. AV. P. Z. and Ren. agree with each other and differ from R. F. in the following particulars: 1. They contain a fuller description of the hue and cry. 2. They contain a fuller description of i. Pinte; ii. The lamentation of the hens; iii. The fox's temptation of the cock. 3. The cock’s emulation of Chanteclin is an emulation of his singing, — not of his manners, as in R. F. 4. The discovery of the misfortune of the cock is made by the woman, not by the man. 5. Two passages in Ren, show a faint resemblance to passages in AV. P. Z. not represented in R. F. : i. A reference to Destiny; ii. The description of Chantecler’s proud bearing among the hens. 6. The words of the cock's epigram at the end of the adventure. 7. The absence of the building of the fence. 8. Verbal resemblances: i. Bacon, a feature of the peasant’s diet: RENART. NUN’S PRIEST’S TALE. Bien avoit garni son hostel. Hir bord was served most with whyt and blak, Assez i ot et un et el : Milk and broun breed, in which she fond no lak, Char salee, bacons et fliches. Seynd bacoun. (23 ff.) (35 ft.) 72 The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. ii. Chantecler's apology to P. for his distress: RENART. Pinte, ne vos en merveillez, Seli cuers me fremist et tram- ble. (212 f.) iii. The cock’s “avisioun * : Que j’ai songie un songe es- trange. Et une avision molt male. Por qoi vos me vees si pale. (187 ff.) NUIN'S PRIEST’S TALE. Madame, I pray yow, that ye take it nat agrief: By God, me mette I was in swich mischief Right now, that yet myn herte is sore afright. (72 ft.) That I shal han of this avisioun Adversitee. (332.) This caused me my groning, douteles. (87.) iv. Chantecler prays that the evil consequences of his dream may be averted: Li cos et dist 'seint esperiz, Garis hui mon cors de prison” Et met a sauve garison I (162 ft.) Now God, quod he, my swevene rede aright, And keep my body out of foul prisoun (76 f.) v. Pinte’s scorn of Chantecler’s faint-heartedness: Avoi fait Pinte baus dos sire, Ice ne deves vos pas dire. Mau fetes qui nos esmaies. (177 ff.) Avoy quod she, fy on yow, herteles I (88.) How dorste ye sayn for shame unto youre love, That any thing mighte make yow aferd? (98 f.) vi. In one of the three accounts of the dream in Aden. the beast is mentioned: Avis me fuel somellier Que ne sai quel beste veneit. (194 f.) Me mette I was in swich mes- chief, (74.) Withinne oure yerde, wheras I saugh a beste. (79.) 1 Cf. Branch xvi, where the fox prays God “qu'il li gart son corps de prison” (8.1). The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 73 vii. The fox comes before noon: RENART, N UN'S PRIEST’S TALE. Ainz que voiez Stille he lay, passe midi, Till it was passed undern of Vos avandra. (252 f.) the day. (401 f.) viii. The woman's cry when she catches sight of the fox: “Harou !” (383.) “Out! harrow !” (560.) ix. The words of defiance which the cock suggests to the fox: “Maugrez vostre.” 1 (427.) “Maugree your heed.” (592.) These particulars fall into two classes. The first and second instances are correspondences between ſeen. and AV. P. Z. in matters which do appear in A. F., but only to a very slight extent. The remaining instances are wholly lacking in A. F. How far, then, may the peculiarity of R. F. in these respects be supposed to have extended to its original 2 1. The description of the hue and cry. This almost certainly occurred in the original of R. F., because, though not given ex- pressly in R. F., it is clearly implied.” But in A'en, and AV. P. Z. the description is explicit. Both Ren, and M. P. 7, also agree in the fact that the house-dog joins in the pursuit, and the evidence of other versions” makes it probable that this trait was a traditional feature of the story and was also contained in the source of R. F. 1. Cf. Branch xvii (1115), the words which Chantecler suggests to the fox: “Maugre eulz.” In this case, however, the suggestion proves vain. * Voretzsch (2s., XV, 147) quotes the observation of Martin (p. 107) and of Reissenberger (p. 25) to the effect that both the pursuit and the words of abuse are lacking in R. F. He adds that the cock's remark in Rem., “Don’t n’oez quel honte vos dient Cil vilain qui si vos escrient?” is no better “moti- viert” by the expression, “ or ca or cil” “or tost apres!” “vez le gorpill” than the cock’s remark in R. F., “Wes lät ir iuch disen gebär beschelten ?” is “motiviert” by the expression, “o wé der hiener min | " It is all only a trick of the cock to get the fox to speak, and the meaning of the words must not be pressed too far. While this may be granted for the words of abuse, for the pursuit itself it must be admitted that Ren. actually records the chase, but R. F. only implies it by 146: “Ir gat eine uppige vart.” * Cf. also the Flemish márchen, in which the dog joins in pursuit of the fox. The Anglo-Latin Romulus, and the following versions belonging to its tradition 74 The Sources of the Monne Presſes Tale. 2. i. So, too, in the account of Pinte, Ren. and M. P. Z. expressly state that she excels all the other hens; but R. F. leaves this to be inferred. From the fact that in R. F. it is Pinte alone whom Chan- tecler consults in his difficulties, it is probable that a distinctive description of Pinte was a feature of the original of R. F. 2. ii. In R. F. again, it is only Pinte who laments. In Ren., though Pinte's outcry is the only lament mentioned, the other hens, Bise and Rosete, as well as Pinte, fail to put in an appearance at nightfall when the fox carries off the cock; and it is to be pre- sumed that they have joined with Pinte in her lamentation, as they do in AV. P. Z. Now in R. F., as in Ren., the hens in general seem disposed to follow Pinte's example. When she becomes alarmed at the commotion in the cabbages and flies upon a beam, they accom- pany her. It is therefore possible that originally the hens joined in the lament with Pinte and that R. F. is in this point an abridg- ment of its source. The abridgment in R. F. may go even farther in this connection. The account of Pinte's lament itself is much ~shorter in R. F. than in Ren. or M. P. Z. In M. P. Z. it occupies eighteen lines; in Ren., sixteen; in A. F., one line. Of course due allowance must be made for the fact that Chaucer's description Ajs on a greater scale than either Ren, or R. F. on account of the Kemphatically mock-heroic manner of the M. P. Z. Nevertheless, it is probable that Chaucer got the suggestion for his treatment of Pertelote's lament from a description which was nearer to the com- pass of sixteen lines than to that of one line. This is the more likely if the longer description itself inclines, as it does, to the heroic style." It is worth while to place the Ren. and R. F. versions at this point side by side. For reasons that will appear, it will be necessary to quote the lines of R. F. which immediately precede and immediately follow Pinte's lament. REINHART FUCHS. RENART. Bi dem houbete nam in Rein- hart. (134.) also show the trait of the pursuit by the dogs: Marie; Gerard of Minden; Anon. L. G. AEsop. i Cf. 366 ft. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 75 REINHART FUCHS. RENART. Dolente est, molt se decon- forte. (354.) Pinte schrei und begunde sich Si se commence a dementer, missehaben. Quant Chantecler vit enporter, Et dit “sire, bien le vos dis Et vos me gabiez todis Etsi me tenieez por fole. Mes ore est voire la parole, Dont je vos avoie garni. Vostre senz vos a escharni. Fole fui, quant jel vos apris, Et fox ne crient tant qu'il est pris. Renars vos tient qui vos en- porte. (355–365.) Lasse dolente, con sui morte Car se je ci pert mon seignor, A toz jors ai perdu m'onor.” (366–368.) Reinhart tet niht danne draben (136) Und huop sich wundern balde (137) & Rehte him gegen dem walde. (138.) Den schal vernam Lanzelin. La bone feme del mainil (369) (139.) | Renart regarde. (378.) In the R. F. description, line 135, the line of Pinte's lament, seems to have shifted its position, for line 139 is closely connected with it in sense, and in M. P. Z. and Ren, immediately follows it in position. In other words, according to both the other versions the idea con- tained in line 135 of R. F. comes immediately before the idea con- tained in line 139 of R. F. The evidence, then, from the sense of all three versions corroborates the evidence from the actual order of ideas in M. P. Z. and Ren. and makes it probable that R. F. pre- sents, at this point, a disarrangement” of its original. Moreover, 1 The present arrangement of R. F. is, of course, fixed by rime. But if a poet had shifted the lines, he would naturally have arranged the rimes accordingly. 76 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. the explicit description of Pinte's lament in the other two versions makes it possible that R. F. presents, at this point, an abridgment as well. With regard to these two details, therefore, — the extent of the lament, and the number of hens engaged in it, — M. A. Z. seems, from evidence furnished by the Ren. and R. F. versions themselves, to offer a more original form of the story than AE. F., and it is probable that the order and contents of the original of A'. F. were approximately the same here as those of AV. A. Z. 2. iii. In the fox's temptation of the cock, again, Ren. and M. P. Z. afford a fuller account than R. F. In both Ren, and M. P. Z. the fox has first to quiet the cock's fears by an appeal to their blood- relationship' or by an assurance of friendship.” In R. F., on the contrary, there is no mention of the cock’s fear, and the fox, without prelude, begins to try his tricks upon Chantecler. It has already been suggested “that AV. P. Z. in this connection may have preserved an early trait of the narrative, which neither Ren. nor R. A. shows, for the surprise and consternation of Chantecler at the first sight of the fox, though it is a trait given by AV. Zº. Z, alone, seems to be a natural feature of the story. In that case, this trait which Ren.” shares with W. P. Z., -the fox's re-assurance of the cock, - may also be one which belongs to the epic material of the source of M. P. Z., and it may likewise have formed part of the original of R. F." 3. With respect to the third particular, – the nature of the cock's emulation of his father, — it is possible that there is an actual 1 Car tu es mes cosins germeins. (306.) D'une char somes et d’un sanc. (323.) * Be ye affrayed of me that am your freend? (465.) * See p. 68, above. * The fact that Ren, has this motive repeated cannot, however, be used to strengthen the argument, for the repetition is made necessary by the elaborated form of the fox's attack upon the cock which characterizes the Renart version at this point. * R. F., indeed, shares with AW. P. Z. one trait which is similar to that under consideration. The fox in R. A. reminds Chantecler of the hospitable relations that existed between the Cock and Fox families. But the remark hardly helps the argument, for it is uttered rather as a prelude to the peculiar form which the eulogy on Chantecler's father assumes in R. F. than as an assurance of good faith on the part of the fox. The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Zale. 77 change due to the author of R. F. It looks as if he had deliber. ately introduced a new motive into the common fund of material. Starting, perhaps, with the motive that still survives in A. F. and M. P. Z., - the hospitable relations between the Cock and Fox fami- lies, – he seems to have developed the idea of Sengelin's gracious- ness toward guests, and to have relegated the charm of his singing to a position of secondary importance. In any case, the evidence of other versions, both oral and written, is in favor of the Ren. and AW. P. Z. cast of the story. Presumably, then, the poet of R. F. himself gave to this motive the particular turn which characterizes A'. F. 1 4. The fourth peculiarity of R. F., - the discovery of the theft of the cock by the woman and not by the peasant, — Voretzsch * thinks may be due to the free fancy of the “Ueberarbeiter.” But if the woman’s interest in the fowls be an early trait,” it is possible that in assigning the discovery of the fox's theft to the woman, Ren. and AV. P. Z. have preserved a more original form of the story than R. F. “ Moreover, this trait immediately precedes the place in R. F. 1. At the same time, the opposite possibility must be admitted, for it may be that R. F. shows here an early form of the story rather than a touched-up version. And the idea of Sengelin's graciousness may be the point at which the “patrizat” motive enters the cock and fox matter, that motive being first attached to the idea of hospitable relations, as it appears outside of the Cock and Fox story (cf. p. 33, n. 1, above), and then gradually gaining its habitual connection with the “oculis clausis" theme. * Zs., XV, 146. * See p. 67, above. -. * In one of the oral versions also, it will be remembered, the woman discovers the theft (see above, p. 67, n.). In Branch xiv, the peasant, Gonbaut, discovers the theft of the fox. But the value of the evidence of this Branch is disputed. Kolmatschevsky (p. 97) and Martin (Observ., p. 78)—both quoted by Sudre, p. 285 — look upon this part of Branch xiv as practically an imitation of the episode of Chantecler in Branch ii. Voretzsch (Zs., XV, 138), too, thinks that there is evidence in Branch xiv of a knowledge of Branch ii. Sudre (p. 285), however, regards Branch xiv, not as an imitation of Branch ii, but as an independ- ent conte. He admits the difficulty that in Branch xiv, as in Branch ii, the peasant pursues the fox with the dogs. This difficulty, however, he explains as due to the influence of so many stories about the fox which end in a pursuit by men and dogs. If Sudre's explanation be correct, the intervention of the man in Branch 78 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. where an abridgment of its original may be suspected. It is, there- fore, not improbable that a fuller account belonged to the original of A'. F., similar to that in Ren. and M. P. Z., in which the woman dis- covers the loss of the cock and by her cry summons the peasants who pursue the fox. 5. Of the two passages which show a very slight agreement between Æen, and M. P. Z., the first is probably of no consequence; the second, however, may point to a trait of Chaucer's original. - i. In Ren., before the dream, when the hens are panic-stricken at the entrance of the fox, Chantecler is full of confidence; he fears nothing and acts like a foolish creature, for “ne set gaires q'a Peil li pent.” With this line may be compared the various passages in M. P. Z. where the Priest comments on Destiny that “may nat ben eschewed.” The resemblance between this line of Ren, and the predestinarian remarks of the Priest is too slight, surely, to be any- thing but accidental. Besides, it hardly furnished Chaucer with a point of departure for the remarks on Destiny, for they are easily ac- counted for independently, as professional utterances of the Priest. ii. The other passage shows a resemblance' which is slight, xiv may be disregarded ; for in this theme of the pursuit of the fox by men and dogs, – a theme which occurs as an accessory theme in Branch ii and AV. P. T. themselves, – we are outside of the essential theme of the episode. And, on the other hand, if Branch xiv be only an imitation of Branch ii, its evidence may also be disregarded. The probability, therefore, still remains that R. F. at this point shows a departure from its original. AV. P. T. agrees with Ren, here, but it can hardly be used in this argument ; for there is no husband in Chaucer's story, and consequently there is no chance for any one but the woman to discover the misfortune of Chantecler. The only value of AV. P. T. in this argument is the indirect evidence it offers that the woman's rôle in the story may originally have had most to do with the action because it alone survives in AV. P. 7. * Another very feeble resemblance between Ren. and M. P. Z. consists in the fact that both call attention to the cock's presence of mind at the moment when the fox runs off with him. The resemblance, faint as it is, seems worth noting, because Gallus et Vulpes and Baldo show the same trait. This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, In al his drede, unto the fox he spak. (585 f.) Or est Chanteclers en peril, S'il ne reseit engin et art. (418 f.) Zhe Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 79 enough, but possibly of some consequence. It precedes, in Ren., the passage on Destiny just referred to. Chantecler comes among the frightened hens: Moult fierement leur vient devant, La plume ou pie, le col tendant. It is just possible that there was in Chaucer's source something like these lines, and that it suggested to him the couplet: * He loketh as it were a grim leoun; And on his toos he rometh up and doun. With regard to the next two particulars in which R. F. shows a different version from the account which is common to Ren, and A. P. Z., it is possible that the peculiar form presented by R. F. is the more original, and that its source, in these two respects, showed an earlier stage of the story than the source of Ren. and AV. P. Z. 6. It is really certain that R. F.," in general, represents an earlier 2 stage of the story than the Renart version, and there is evidence to indicate that the cock's epigram was later in assuming its fixed tra- ditional form than the fox's epigram.” It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that R. F. in the less stereotyped form of the cock's epi- gram shows a more original trait of the story.” Cum gallus prae tristitia Init nova consilia. (G. et V., St. 22.) Nec per virtutem putet ales habere salutem, Arte relaxari tentat molimine tali. (Baldo, 19.) 1 Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 142 and 147; quoted by Sudre, p. 278; cf. also Jonck- bloet, p. 73 f. * See p. 46, n. 1, above. 8 Contrast the traditional form which is seen in Rem., AW. P. T., and the versions from the Anglo-Latin Romulus with the form in R. F. A'en. : La male gote li cret l'oit Qui s'entremet de someller A l’ore que il doit veiller. (450 ft.) AV. P. 7. For he that winketh, when he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee I (611 f.) A.-L. Rom. : Vae sibi qui claudit oculos, cum potius eos deberet aperire. 8o The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 7. The building of the fence appears in the R. F. version alone. That this trait, in the first place, belongs to the source of R. F. is made almost certain by the fact that Branch ix contains a trait very like it; for, as we have seen," Branch ix shows an acquaintance with such a version of the Chantecler episode as the poet of A. F. knew. But is there any evidence that the source of M. P. Z. also contained this trait of the fence-building The facts are as follows: In R. F. the peasant, by his wife's advice, builds a fence to protect the fowls from the fox. In Branch ix the fence is already built and the peasant is repairing it when he sees the fox, to whom he has promised Blancart, the cock, coming along to claim his due. The peasant goes to his wife to ask her advice about outwitting the fox. She tells him to return and continue his work on the fence as if nothing had happened until the fox's impatience brings him into the yard and within reach of the dogs. In M. P. Z. neither the peasant nor any trace of the building of the fence appears. In Branch ii, again, the fence is already built when the story opens. There is, therefore, nothing to support the hypothesis that the building of the fence was part of the original of M. P. Z. In this particular, then, as in the form of the cock's epigram, the original of R. A. seems to have diverged from the original of M. P. Z. Marie: Li Cox respunt, si deis-geo fere Maudire l'ueil qui vient cluigner Alors que il devieit veillier. Gerard of Minden : De hane sprak: “Gisegget recht, We 6k to winkende denne plecht Alse he schal van rechte sein, Dem mach dar wol lét afgeschein.” (65 fſ.) Anon. L. G. AEsop : De hane sprak: du redest recht. We dan Ök wenken plecht, Wan he van rechte sulde sein, Dar van mach em wol leide schein. (47 ff.) Er watere Weizgot niht alwaere Swer sich behoutet ze aller zit. (167 ff.) * See p. 67, above. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 8 I 8. The resemblance between Ren. and M. P. Z., with regard to words and individual expressions, explains itself. It is important, for the combined evidence of these correspondences alone would make it practically certain that Chaucer used a version of the Chan- tecler episode which was fuller in details of execution than the R. F. version. There result from this consideration of the resemblances between Ren. and W. P. Z. the following conclusions. Certain resemblances between Æem. and AV. P. Z. make it evident that Chaucer used a version that was fuller in its treatment of special motives than A'. F. Other resemblances show that Chaucer's original in four particulars, — viz., in the building of the fence, in the nature of Sengelin's charm, in the woman's discovering the theft of the fox, and in the form of the cock's epigram at the close, – was probably more or less actually unlike AE. F. Are the shorter forms, then, to be referred wholly to R. F., or wholly to its original, or partly to each And do the differences belong wholly to AE. F., or wholly to its origi- nal, or partly to each 2 To these questions the evidence derived from a comparison of the three versions can furnish no certainty of conclusion, but only a varying degree of probability. The conclusion which seems most probable for the first class of differences, – that is, for those in- stances in which Ren. and AV. Zº. Z. offer a fuller treatment than A'. F., - is, that the original of R. F. contained elements of every one, and that R. F. itself made the abridgment. With regard to the second class of differences, – viz., those four particulars in which A'. F. presents a really different form of the incident from A^en. and M. P. T., - the conclusion is more complex. For two of the four, – that is, for, the peculiar form which the cock's emulation of his father assumes in R. F., and for the discovery of the cock's mis- fortune by the man, – it is more or less probable that the difference is caused by a departure on the part of R. F. from its original, and, accordingly, that in these two particulars the original of R. F. did not diverge from the original of M. P. Z. As to the two remaining points, – the building of the fence, and the form of the cock's epi- gram, - it is more or less probable that these differences occurred in the original of R. F., and that, therefore, the original of R. F. in 82 The Sources of the Wonne Prestes Zale. these points did diverge from the original of M. P. 7. An exami- nation of the resemblances between Ren. and M. P. Z., then, explains away from the original of R. F., with a fair degree of probability, all but two of the differences which correspond to agreements between Ren, and AW. P. Z. The building of the fence and the vague wording of the cock's epigram alone, of the features which distinguish R. F. from Ren. and M. P. Z., seem to represent a differ- ent tradition from the tradition of M. P. Z. The resemblances between R. F. and M. P. Z. must be examined, in their turn, in order to discover how far these may be due to chance, and how far they indicate a closer relation between R. F. and M. P. Z. than between Ren. and M. P. Z. The M. P. Z. and R. F. agree in the following particulars in opposition to Ren. : 1. Their brevity and simplicity. 2. The arrangement, at the very beginning. 3. The time (daybreak). 4. The character of the woman : i. Her age; ii. Her importance in the story. 5. The character of Chantecler: . i. His humor, especially as it is directed against women. 6. Anthropomorphic style. 7. The hospitable relations between the Cock and Fox families. 8. Word resemblances: i. The cock beats his wings with delight : * Die vitech begund er swingen. This Chauntecleer his winges (122.) gan to bete. (502.) ii. The fox runs toward the wood:* Rehte hin gegen dem walde. And on his bak toward the (138.) wode him beer. (516.) 1. Cf. Marie : Les eles bat. 2 Cf. Marie : Vers la forest tut dreit s'en va. Baldo : Quumque memus juxta vulpes sic iret. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 83 1. Most important is the greater simplicity of the two versions now to be compared. . In R. F. it takes one hundred and sixty-four verses, in M. P. 7, one hundred and ninety-eight, and in A'en. four hundred and forty-six to tell the same story. The surplus of lines in Æen. is not due to the introduction of new themes, but merely to repetition or expansion of those used in all three versions. The following are the features of the Renart version which appear in a simpler form in M. P. Z. and in R. F. : i. The fox makes two attacks upon the cock. ii. The cock goes to sleep twice. iii. The details of the dream are given three times: (i) by the narrator, (ii) by the cock, and (iii) by the hen. R. F. and M. P. Z. agree in giving them but once. - iv. The cock sings twice to please the fox; the first time he closes but one eye.” v. A dialogue between Constans and his wife is inserted imme-y diately before the hue-and-cry incident. Now the important question is: Where did this agreement in sim- plicity between R. F. and M. P. Z. originate? One point is practi- cally settled. The R. F. form of the story is an earlier form than the elaborate version of Ren.” Did Chaucer, then, have for his source this earlier, simpler type, or did he have the elaborated one and himself reduce it to the same degree of simplicity which is found in R. F. It must be granted that in every case, except possibly the fourth, the simpler form which appears in R. F. and in AW. A. Z. is the more artistic. The elaboration has led to inconsist- encies and improbabilities” in the A’enart version. A good writer, Gerard of Minden: In sinem munt he one grép Mit ome he weder to holte lép. Anon. L. G. AEsop: In synen munt he én so greip Unde mit ém to holte leip. 1 This first attempt with only one eye closed appears also in the old poem Gallus et Vulpes, and in Ysengrimus (iv., 943 f.). It also occurs in the folk-lore version of the Chantecler episode from the Norse (see p. 59, n. 1, above). * See above, p. 79, n. I. * Voretzsch, 2s., XV, 142. 84 The Sources of the Monne Presſes Zale. therefore, had he used the elaborate form, would have been likely to simplify it in the direction of the A'. F. type. But it is certainly a harder hypothesis to suppose that Chaucer used the latter elaborated version and reduced it, in every one of these cases, to the same degree of simplicity that the R. F. account shows, than to suppose that he used an earlier, simpler version, of about the same stage of development as R. F. Single descriptions, again, are longer in Afen.” than in R. F. or in AV. P. Z. The dream of the cock, for example, occupies sixteen lines in ſeen., two in A. F., and eight in AW. A. Z. 2. A. F. and M. P. Z. agree, in the second place, in the way in which the story opens. The first lines in Aten. are devoted to the fox, but R. A. and M. P. Z. begin by describing the proprietor and the home of Chantecler and the hen. This variation in the French version may be disregarded, for it is doubtless due to the same elaboration which is apparent throughout the account in Branch ii. 3. In R. F. and M. P. Z. the action of the story begins at day- break.” The evidence of Branch ix * confirms this time of com- mencement, and the evidence of Branch ix is always important, for its trouveur, as has been said more than once, must have known the episode of Chantecler in the form in which it was known to the poet of R. F. “ But besides the evidence of Branch ix, there are also indications in Branch ii itself which point to the same time that is found in A'. F. and in AV. P. Z. The hen, in Ren., concludes her interpretation of Chantecler’s dream with the remark: “All this will happen to you before noon.” This prophecy of the hen in the Renart version is very well fulfilled by the sequel in M. P. Z. There the fox lay still in the bed of herbs “til it was passed undern of the day.” When the hen says these words to Chantecler in Ren. it is, of course, before noon, and the cock has therefore had his dream some time in the forenoon. And some time before noon, it 1 Voretzsch, Zs., XV, 142. 2 And so befel that in a dawenynge. (62.) Eines tages dö diu sunne àf gie. (41.) 8 Sitost con li jors escleira. (1065.) * Voretzsch, Zr., XV, 146; Sudre, p. 278. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 85 is to be supposed, the fox seizes him, as in M. P. 7. Otherwise, the hen’s words are idle. But the hue and cry in Ren, does not take place till vesper-time, when it is necessary to get in the hens for the night. There is plainly a discrepancy here, and no doubt the original form of the story agreed in its definition of time with A'. F. and AV /* Z. 4. The resemblance between R. F. and M. P. Z. in the promi- nence given to the woman's interest in the fowls has already been discussed (p. 67, above). Whatever the exact relation between M. P. Z. and R. A., the evidence of Branch ix makes it highly prob- able that the early form of the story gave the woman an important interest in the fowls. Another resemblance between AV. P. Z. and R. F., in connection with the woman, is the fact that she is repre- sented as old. Chaucer may have got his idea of a widow, “somdel stope in age,” from the epithet “Babe” which is applied to Ruot- zela in A'. F., and which, no doubt, occurred in the source of AE. F. 5. The character of Chantecler in R. F. bears, in one respect, a • striking resemblance to the character of Chantecler in M. P. Z. •' In both the cock has a sense of humor, and in both he shows it at y^ the expense of women." It seems quite possible that Chaucer met some suggestion in his source, such as this description in R. F., where the humorous cock laughs at woman's ways, and then that he adapted the idea to his own story. 6. In one feature of style R. F. again is like M. P. Z. The poet of- A'. A. shows the same tendency to treat his cock and hen as human / personages that Chaucer shows throughout. Pinte begs Schantecler ) to take care of himself for his children’s sake, and pictures her dis-/ =-º-º-º-º-º-º-º- * In R. F. this humor is also directed against dreams. But even if, in Chaucer's original, the cock's humor had extended to the interpretation of dreams, this ridicule of dreams would become impossible in M. P. Z. on account of the differ- ence in the cock’s attitude on this subject. Sudre (p. 312) quotes the dialogue between the cock and his wife from John of Sheppey's version of the fable in which the fox asks the cock to act as her con- fessor (Hervieux, old ed., II, 783, IV, 446). The conversation runs thus: “Oportet omnino quod exeam ad eam. — Domine, nullo modo ; multum deceptuosa est, et nescitur ad quem finem tendit. — Tanquam una de stultis mulieribus locuta es.” The resemblance of this fable to the epic account, as Sudre notes, is significant. 86 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. ſ \ tress as a bereft wife if his recklessness leads him to destruction. ' The cock's sense of humor, which has just been mentioned, is in the same strain. This peculiarity of style, like the other resem- ... blances, is a trait which Chaucer's original may have shared with the original of Æ. F. 7. Another likeness between R. F. and M. P. Z. may with still greater probability be held to have characterized the source of each. It is hardly likely that Chaucer and the poet of R. F. should by chance have hit upon the same special motive, – the idea of hospit- able relations between the cock's family and the fox's, – by which the fox gains the cock's confidence. The relations of guest and host are, to be sure, reversed in the two versions. In A. F. it is Sengelin who was host, and in M. P. Z. it is the fox who took such pleasure in the visit of Chantecler’s parents. But other considerations' make it probable that A. F. has departed from its original at this very point of Sengelin's graciousness towards his guests. AV. P. T., therefore, seems to have preserved more accurately that early form of this motive which probably characterized the original of A. F. as well as that of AW. P. 7. * 1 See p. 77, above. * There is a slight resemblance between R. F. and AV. P. 7 in the cock's remark when he escapes from the fox and flies upon a tree. The resemblance is trifling enough, for it amounts to nothing more than the assurance that the cock will not be beguiled again ; but in Ren. the cock's speech at this moment con- tains quite a different idea. After the cock's escape, in M. P. Z., the fox is the first to speak: “Allas !” quod he, “O Chauntecleer, allas! I have to yow,” quod he, “y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; But, sire, I dide it in no wikke entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente.” (599 ff.) The cock's remark in R. F. fits in very well with this speech of the fox. Indeed, the cock's speech in R. F. seems rather abrupt unless it follows an offer of the fox to carry the cock back, or some other ruse of the captor to recover his captive, like the fox's attempt in the AW. P. T. Perhaps, then, Chaucer has preserved the original form of the dialogue which R. F. has abridged by depriving it of the first speech, and which Ren. has elaborated according to a new idea. I append the cock's remark in the three versions and in Gerard of Minden : The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 87 Let us review the results of this comparison of the points of resemblance between R. F. and M. P. Z. For all of the instances cited there exists a possibility, and for some of them a probability, that the resemblance in question is not due to chance, but that it originated in some likeness in the originals of R. F. and M. P. T. at the point in question. The reconstruction of the tradition repre- sented by R. F. is then as follows. It doubtless included two ele- ments which did not characterize the original of M. P. Z. ; viz., the building of the fence and the form of the cock's epigram. It is also highly improbable that the original of R. F. contained all of the resemblances which exist between Ren. and AV. P. Z. For, though not one of these points of resemblance is contradictory to A'. F., it is certainly unlikely that the poet of R. F. omitted so many features of his original which Ren. and M. P. Z. retained in common. On the other hand, R. F. and M. P. Z. represent about the same stage in the development of the story, - a simpler stage than that of the Renart version. Other important resemblances point to a close relation between R. F. and AW. A. Z. Chaucer's original, therefore, seems to have been a version of the epic story which was very similar to the original of R. F., but which, at the same time, treated certain abridgments of the present R. F. version with the greater fullness that is found in the Renart account. A'en. : “Renart,” fait il, “que vos est vis De cest siegle 7 que vos en semble Li lecheres fremist et tramle.” (442 ff.) Dú hast mir gedienet äne danc, Derwec dàhte mich ze lanc, Dă dà mich her hāst getragen. Ich wil dir für war sagen, Dàne brengest mich dar wider niht, Swaz dar umbe mir geschiht. (155 ff.) I shrewe us bothe two, And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me any ofter than ones. (606 f.) Gerard of Minden : So ik beholde minen sin, wil ik bewaren, dat gi ne dregen minicht mér oft worelegen. (74-76.) 88 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. A diagram may put the case more clearly: * | J/ _T- à R. F. _T T- Aranch it AV. P. 7. Here y represents the source of R. F., and 5' that of M. P. Z., and through one or more elaborations, that of Branch ii. The original of Chaucer's Cock and Fox story may, therefore, be reconstructed, in part, by retaining (I) such features as are common to all three versions and (2) such as are common to M. P. Z. and A'en, or to M. P. Z. and R. F. The story would then run as follows: 2.* Beside a grove (Ren., AW. P. Z., R. F. [implied]) dwells a woman (R. F., AW. P. Z., Ren, [implied]). 3. She is content with her property (Rem., R. F., M. P. Z.) and with her provision of grain (Ren., A. F., AW. P. Z.) and bacon (Ren., A. P. Z.). 4. She is rather old (R. F., W. P. T.). 6. She has a yard with a fence (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.) and a hedge (Ren., A. F. [implied], M. P. Z. [implied]). 7. Within it she keeps a cock (Chantecler) and hens (Rem., R. F., M. P. Z.). 9. Pinte is the best hen (Ren., AW. P. Z., R. F. [implied]). 11.” One day at sunrise (R. F., AW. P. Z. [implied]), the fox full of tricks (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.) comes after Chantecler (Ren., A. F., AV. P. Z.). 1 It is, of course, possible that Chaucer knew more than one version of the story. But there are no inconsistencies in the M. P. 7, account which would suggest a conflict of versions. * The numbers correspond to the numbers in the table of the three epic ver- sions, pp. 47 ff., above. - * Nos. 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 are reconstructed from Ren. and R. F. See pp. 65 ff., above. } The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zale. 89 12. But the fence is too strong for him (Ren., R. F.). 14. At last he pulls out a slat with his teeth and crawls through the hedge (AE. F.). 15. He falls into a heap of cabbages, and there lies hidden (Ren, M. P. T., R. F. [implied]). 16. Pinte perceives it (Ren, R. F.) and calls to Chantecler, who is asleep (R. F.). Then she and her companions fly upon a beam (R. F.). 17. Chantecler comes up (Rem., R. F.) proudly (Ren., AW. P. Z.). 19. He assures the hens that they are safe in this yard and bids them return to their former place (Ren, R. F.). 27. He tells Pinte (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.) that he has had a bad dream in which he saw a reddish beast (Ren., AW. P. Z., and partly given in R. F.). - 28. And begs her not to marvel at his distress (Ren., AW. P. Z.). 31. He is full of apprehension (Ren, AE. F., AW. A. Z.) on account of this “avisioun " (Ren., AW. P. Z.). 32. He prays Heaven to interpret the dream aright (R. F., M. P. T., Ren. [obscurely]). 33. Perhaps Pinte offers some interpretation of the dream (Ren.). 34. Chantecler replies and laughs at dreams (AE. F.). 40. Chantecler makes humorous remarks about women (AE. F., M. P. Z.). 41. And, by an effort of his will (AW. P. Z.), defies the dream (Ren, R. F., W. P. Z.). 43. It is now nearly noon (AW. P. Z., Ren. [implied]). 45. Chantecler, unaware of the fox, flies nearer to the place where he is lurking (Ren., A. F., AW. P. Z.). 61. Chantecler sees the fox and starts to flee (AV. P. Z.). 63. The fox begs Chantecler not to flee from a friend (Ren., M. P. Z.). 67. He speaks of the old hospitable relations between their families (R. F., M. P. Z.). 68. He praises the singing of Chantecler’s father (Ren., AW. P. T.), who used to sing with closed eyes (Ren., M. P. Z., R. F.). - 72. The fox urges Chantecler to imitate his father (Ren, R. F., AV. P. Z.). Chantecler begins to beat his wings (R. F., AW. P. T.). 90 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. 73. He is too rash to perceive his folly (M. P. Z., R. F.). 75. Chantecler sings with closed eyes (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.). 76 and 83. The fox seizes Chantecler (Ren, R. F., M. P. Z.) by the gargat” (Ren., A. P., AW. P. Z.) and runs for the wood (AV. P. Z., R. F.). . 81. Pinte laments (Ren, R. F., AW. P. T.) with the other hens (M. P. Z.). 84–86. The woman (Ren., M. P. Z.) comes at the cry of the hens (R. F., AW. P. Z.). She sees the fox with the cock (A’en., M. P. Z.) and cries “Harou!” (Ren., AW. P. Z.). Every one pursues the fox (Ren., AW. P. Z., R. F. [implied]). The dog is let loose (Ren., M. P. Z.). 90. Chantecler, in all his peril (Rem., W. P. Z.), prompts the fox to utter words of defiance (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.), “Maugre,” etc. (AEen., AW. P. Z.), to his pursuers. The fox opens his mouth (A’en., A. P. Z., A. F.), whereupon the cock escapes and flies upon a tree (Ren., R. F., AW. P. Z.). 93. The cock assures the fox that the adventure shall not be repeated (R. F., AW. P. Z.). § 94. The fox invokes shame upon the mouth that speaks out of season (Ren., R. F., AW. P. T.). 95. Chantecler says, “Misfortune come upon him who shuts his eyes at the wrong time ’’ (Rcm., AW. P. Z., R. J. [vaguely]). VI. Sou RCES AND CHARACTER OF THE ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IN THE NONNE PRESTES TALE. Upon some such epic version of this animal tale the AVun's Priest's Tale must be based. But so striking are the transformations which Chaucer made in working up his traditional material that its affilia- tion with the Renart matter is apt to be disregarded. And Chaucer, it seems, not only changed his original in places, but also made the most remarkable additions to the traditional material. For some of these additions he probably found the suggestion in his original. The tendency to the anthropomorphic style, for * It seems as if a word like “gargat” had been kept from a French original. The meaning is the same in all three versions. The Sources of the Monne Prestes Zaſe. 9 I example, which is clearly perceptible in R. F., is carried to perfec- ) tion in the AWun's Priest's Zale. Chantecler and Pertelote have the ſ : dignity and high breeding of fashionable personages. Pertelote exacts of her consort the observance of all the chivalric virtues." ' And she herself holds him captive by her beauty and charming qualities. In A'en. Pinte excels the other hens, but she still remains . a hen; her virtue consists in laying the biggest eggs. But the Y human status of Pertelote appears equally in her elegant manners and in her decided opinions. Her unlucky influence over Chante- '. cler is made the occasion for introducing the warnings then in vogue against the pernicious influence of women in general. Perte- | lote's lamentation for Chantecler, again, is described as comparable . only to that of heroes' wives in classic times. Chantecler, too, has : the qualities of mankind, not of fowls. He delights in song, in the beauty of flowers, and in the music of birds. He addresses polite i and elegant flattery to Pertelote, and enjoys the mockery of the Latin tribute which she cannot understand. He is akin, in all this, rather to that gay and fashionable person, the first of the Trouba- dours, than to a brute creature.” And, when Chantecler is about to * 1 For certes, what so any woman seith, We alle desyren, if it mighte be, To han housbondes hardy, wyse, and free, And secree, and no nigard, ne no fool, * | -- Ne him that is agast of every tool, . º Ne noon avantour, by that God above I (92–97.) 2 The wisdom of the cock, as well as his office as the prophet of dawn, is a very common theme in mediaeval literature. In two places in Chaucer, besides this passage of the AWum's Priest's Tale, there is this description of the cock: * The cok, that orloge is of thorpes lyte. ºr (Parlement of Foules, 350.) But whan the cok, comune astrologer. (T. and C., bk. iii, st. 203.) Chaucer wrote this last passage, no doubt, with the lines of Alanus de Insulis in mind: “Illic gallus, tanquam vulgaris astrologus, suae vocis horologio, hora- rum loguebatur discrimina.” De Planctu Maturae, 285 A (quoted by Skeat, II, 482). Lydgate also has this description of the cock: Of custom named a comune astrologere, (Isogos, i, The Cock and the Jewel, st. 2, v. 3.) 92 The Sources of the Monne Prestes Tale. TS be captured, the tremendous question of Predestination is brought in to solve his fate. Something of this mock heroic strain Chaucer certainly found in | his original. But what he did not find there is the striking setting * ºtered through Chaucer's writings, the Troilus and the Mun's Priest's which belongs to the animal tale in the Nun's Priest's narrative, and the discussions with which the poet embellished it. These discussions center about two questions: the significance of Dreams, and the power of Destiny. And Chaucer's treatment of these questions is a subject that naturally leads to comparisons between the AVun’s Priest’s Zale and 7% oilus and Cressida. For, though allusions to the matter of Dreams and of Destiny are scat- Zale agree in showing a full statement of both these questions, and, it may be added, in describing the character of a skeptical woman as well. The idea of the cock as wise in astronomy persists in Sylvester's translation of the Dizzine Week : Close by his side stands the couragious Cock Crest-people's king, the Peasant's trusty Clock, True Morning watch, Aurora's trumpeter, The Lyon's terror, true Astronomer, Who daily riseth when the sun doth rise And when Sol setteth then to roost he hies. (Vol. I, The Fifth Day of the First Week, 895 ff.) Mr. Skeat has discovered the words of Chantecler’s song in a MS. at Trinity College. He notes the fact that Chaucer quotes the fifth line as well as the first. My lefeys faren in lond; Allas why is she so And I am so sore bound I may not com her to. She hath my hert in hold Where euer she ryde or go With trew loue a thousand-fold. (The Athenaeum, Oct. 24, 1896, p. 566.) 1 I am indebted to Professor Kittredge for the suggestion of this further resem- blance between the Wun's Priest's Tale and Troilus and Cressida. This-suggestion is especially valuable in the present investigation, because from it may perhaps be inferred a reason for Chaucer's most striking departure from the regular course of epic tradition. -- The Sources of the AVonne Prestes Tale. 93 Chaucer's interest in free-will and predestination seems to be con-, stant. Besides the many references in single lines, he has three regular discussions of the subject. There is, first, this one of the Nun’s Priest,” in which he sets forth the question and declares that he “can not bulte it to the bren ‘’; then there is a discussion in prose in the Boethius;” and, finally, there is the versification of this prose account, given in the Złoilus, where Troilus wonders if his separation from Cressida “is inevitable. * AW. P. Z., 414–430; cf. 397. * Translation of Boethius, bk. v., prose ii—iv. * 7, and C., bk. iv, sts. 137–155; cf. bk. ii, st. 89. Sometimes another aspect of the question attracts Chaucer, and he dwells on the absolute power and wilful- ness of Fortune: - Ne alle the men that ryden conne or go May of her cruel wheel the harme withstonde; For, as her list, she pleyeth with free and bonde. * (T. and C., bk. i, st. 12o.) Cf. also 7. and C., blº. i, sts. 20, 122; bk. iv, st. I. Closely connected with the idea of the wilfulness and mutability of Fortune is the idea that the latter end of joy is woe. And here again, the same motive appears in the AV. P. T. and in the Zºroilus : For evere the latter ende of joye is woe. God woot that worldly Ioye is some ago. (W. P. T., 385 f.) O brotele wele of mannes joye unstable (T. and C., bk. iii, st. I 18; cf. also bk. iii, sta. 117–119; bk. v, st. 250.) For the power of Destiny or Fate, cf. 7. and C., bk. v, st. 222; M. P. T., 518; A. 7, 805–810. Sometimes Chaucer solves the question by making Fortune the executrix of God’s will ; see T. and C., bk. iii, st. 89; bk. v, st. 221. The idea of the common distribution of Fortune's favors constitutes still another point of resemblance between the AVun’s Priest’ſ Tale and Troilus and Cressida. Cf. ºr Fortune That us governeth alle as in commune. (W. P. T., 179 f.) Wostow nat wel that Fortune is commune To every maner wight in som degree ? (T. and C., bk. i, st. 121.) Ne truste no wight finden in Fortune Ay propretee; hir yeftes been comune.