Foxes
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What do foxes say?
In real life, they bark, scream, yip and make a chuckling-quacking sound called gekkering. But in many human cultural traditions around the world, whatever foxes say is probably meant to trick or deceive you. For thousands of years, we humans have branded the fox as the archetypal trickster, and seen him as a cunning, clever troublemaker.
Illustration to the Fable of Reynard the Fox. Allaert van Everdingen. The British Museum.
In fact, that characterization holds in reality as well as folklore. Foxes are remarkably adaptable animals. They thrive in both their native environments and as introduced species and can make themselves quite at home in urban and rural settings, even in our own backyards. Although they are adept hunters, foxes have no issues with scavenging from others, or raiding garbage bins. In other words, they are opportunistic eaters, a fact that hasn’t done much to change long-standing perceptions of the cunning and “thieving” fox who finds a way into our chicken coops or carries off lambs. Humans tend to have strong feelings about scavenger species, judging them as lazier and less “noble” or worthy of respect than “proper hunters,” which are viewed as hard-working. Over time, this has come to influence our perception and our treatment of the fox.
Fox Catching Bird. Kawanabe Kyosai. Japanese. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
AESOP’S FOXES
The fox of the Fable tradition is the consummate trickster, a born deceiver who constantly tries to mislead other characters. The fox uses his cleverness and intellect to provoke or harm other animals for his own gain—particularly in situations involving food! The foxes of the Fables are rewarded not for their hard work, but for their cleverness, lies and persuasiveness. But (and this is key), they aren’t always successful. In some cases the “less intelligent” animals work together to defeat the fox. So Aesop’s fox is both the deceiver and the deceived—a common motif for the trickster figure in many folkloric traditions. Why? To teach us an important lesson: the downfall of the fox is always the result of his own arrogance. The fox highlights the dangers of hubris—excessive pride in one’s abilities—a fault frequently punished by the gods in Classical mythology. Yet despite the harm his actions cause others, the fox of the Fables is not a villain even when his tricks succeed. In fact, his cunning makes him a sort of hero: the little creature, often matched against wolves or lions, who defeats the mighty—intellect overcoming brawn.
Illustration to the Fable of Reynard the Fox. Allaert van Everdingen. British Museum
MEDIEVAL FOXES
The foxes of the Medieval Christian tradition aren’t seen quite as favorably. In the Bestiaries, they remain clever and devious creatures, but without any sense of Classical “heroization.” The fox of the Bestiary has a rather peculiar mode of hunting: it rolls in red dirt to give it the appearance of being blood-spattered and then plays dead, waiting for scavenger birds to swoop down and perch on its body, at which point the fox leaps up and seizes its unsuspecting meal! Although this is an entertaining image, there is a moralizing element to it: the fox symbolizes the devil, who lures people into a false sense of security and then attacks. But things weren’t all doom and gloom for Medieval foxes, as their reputation received a popular boost through the notorious character of Reynard the Fox, the unexpected hero of a riotously entertaining and immensely popular narrative written in the late 12th century, in which our eponymous main character rebels against the monarchic system and everything it represents, and thus regains some of his Classical respect.
King Lion and Fox. 17thc. Dutch. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
THE EAST ASIAN FOX
The trickster fox motif is a central component of much East Asian folklore: particularly in the form of the fox spirit in Japanese (kitsune), Chinese (huli jing), and Korean (kumiho) traditions. The fox spirits are supernatural beings who often have the ability to shapeshift between fox and human form. They are not viewed as evil but are something to be treated with both suspicion and respect, as they can be vengeful as well as playful. The fox spirit is closely tied to the notion of reciprocity: if they are treated well, they will work tirelessly to help an individual, but they will also take brutal revenge on those who wrong them. In other words, having a kitsune on your side can be great, as long as you don’t tick them off!
The Magic Fox in Three Countries. Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Japanese. Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
The kitsune is also closely associated with femaleness, as they most frequently shape-shift into a beautiful woman. Thus their “victims” are typically men, seduced by these supernatural females. The kitsune was also connected to expression of excessive desires and/or emotions in women. As a result, some psychological conditions through the female line. Those suffering from fox-possession would visit an Inari shrine (Inari is one of the Shinto deities) in hope of being cured either by rubbing one of the fox statues at the shrine, or through an exorcism conducted by a “fox-handler.”
Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto. Wikipedia
THE MODERN FOX
In the 21st century, foxes continue to battle our deeply entrenched stereotypes. The centuries-old pastime of fox hunting has become a battleground of a different sort, with tempers flaring, sometimes to the point of violence, over the relative rights of foxes and farmers, and of the moneyed class and ordinary people. In 2004, the British House of Commons passed the Hunting Act—over the stubborn objections of the House of Lords—which made “hunting wild mammals with a pack of dogs (3 or more)” unlawful in England and Wales, essentially banning traditional fox hunting. The fox may thus have been given a reprieve, but the ban is by no means embraced by all and calls for its repeal have become part of election campaigns and political agendas in Britain. As with the wolf, the fate of the fox and its right to exist in a human-centric world rests not on its own instincts and adaptability, but rather our own cultural, economic, and political perceptions and opinions.
– Dr. Carolyn Willekes
Fox Hunting. Samuel Howitt. British Museum.