page_title: Foxes in popular culture, films and literature
section_title: Literature
hierarchical_section_title: Foxes in popular culture, films and literature / Literature
context_page_description: The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or a familiar animal possessed of magic powers. The fox is also sometimes associated with transformation. This folkore is found in literature, film, television, games, and music, and elsewhere.
  The term "foxy" in English can also connote attractiveness, sexiness, or being red-haired. The term "to outfox" means "to beat in a competition of wits", similarly to "outguess", "outsmart", and "outwit".
context_section_description: 4 BC - Aesop's Fables from classical antiquity, contain numerous tales involving a fox.
  800 - "Renshi zhuan" (任氏传) [The story of Lady Ren] by Shen Ji-ji,: Story of a love affair between Zheng and a were-fox named Ren.
  921 - Kuzunoha: Abe no Seimei's mother is a kitsune (fox spirit) named Kuzunoha
  1100 - The medieval story of Reynard, a classic anthropomorphic epic.
  1390s - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale, based on an incident in the Reynard cycle.
  1480s – Robert Henryson, The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian,  where the figure of the fox, as Lowrence, is portrayed in an ongoing rivalry with the wolf.
  1532 - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince: The successful prince must have the traits of both the lion and the fox. As the lion cannot protect himself from traps and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.
  1668 - Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695), the French fabulist, brilliantly refashioned Aesop's fables into poems, including some involving the fox such as:
  The Fox and the Crow (French: Le Corbeau et le Renard)
  The Fox and the Stork (French: Le Renard et la Cigogne)
  The Fox and the Billy Goat (French: Le Renard et le Bouc)
  The Fox and the Grapes (French: Le Renard et les Raisins)
  1679 - Pu Songling, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, about encounters between humans and Huli jing (fox spirits).
  1880-1905 - Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: Oral tradition including Brer Fox, from the American South.
  1881-1883 - The Fox and the Cat (Italian: Il Gatto e la Volpe) are a pair of fictional characters who appear in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio. Both are con-men who lead Pinocchio astray and unsuccessfully attempt to murder him. They pretend to have disabilities - the Fox to lameness and the Cat to blindness. The Fox is the more articulate, the Cat usually limiting itself to repeating the Fox's words.
  1894 - "Scrapefoot". A tale with a fox as antagonist that bears striking similarities to Robert Southey's "The Story of the Three Bears" was uncovered by the folklorist Joseph Jacobs and may predate Southey's version in the oral tradition. Some sources state that it was illustrator John D. Batten who in 1894 reported a variant of the tale at least 40 years old. In this version, the three bears live in a castle in the woods and are visited by a fox called Scrapefoot who drinks their milk, sits in their chairs, and rests in their beds.
  1905? - Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, Or, Domino Reynard of Goldur Town: Realistic story with author's drawing, later made into a feature film.
  1909 - L. Frank Baum, The Road to Oz: Fox king Dox of Foxville changes a boy's head into fox's.
  1920 - Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Liška Bystrouška (Vixen Sharpears or The Cunning Little Vixen).
  1922 - David Garnett, Lady into Fox is about transformation into animal, first physical then mental.
  1924 - Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle's Circus - Doctor Dolittle, the animals' friend, hides the vixen Nightshade and her cubs in his jacket, to save them from fox hunters.
  1932 - Niimi Nankichi, Gon, the Little Fox: The fox was misunderstood, and it was shot. The moral of result of revenge.
  1938 - B.B., Wild Lone: The Story of a Pytchley Fox: A novel about a fox's life in Northamptonshire, the home of the Pytchley Hunt.
  1943 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: A fox indicates the true value of friendship.
  1957 - Ted Hughes, The Thought-Fox: A poem featured in Hughes's The Hawk in the Rain.
  1960 - Vercors, Sylva, inspired by David Garnett where a fox changes into a lady.
  1965 - István Fekete Vuk, about life of abandoned fox and his revenge on a hunter. Also made into an animated film.
  1967 - Daniel P. Mannix, The Fox and the Hound stars a fox named Tod as one of the two protagonists. Made into an animated film by Disney.
  1976 - John Crowley, Beasts features a genetically-engineered half-human-half-fox named Reynard as one of the main characters.
  1977 - Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs has a protagonist named "The Tod" who helps out Snitter and Rowf along in their adventures.
  1986–2011 - Brian Jacques, Redwall ser
caption: This Japanese obake karuta (monster card) from the early 19th century depicts a kitsune (fox spirit). The associated game involves matching clues from folklore to pictures of specific creatures
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