Are we sure it's not monks being depicted as foxes for how mischievous and untrustworthy a fox is? For the Fox is known to covet and steal from the other denizens of the woods. The screenshoted post is defending the monks by giving them an untrusting mask.
Very likely. Some of the stories were translated from German into Danish in 1555 and published in the book En Ræffue Bog. In 1827 the stories had a new translation, where they changed the fox’s name to Mikkel. To this day, foxes are called Mikkel in Denmark.
I really need to dig deeper into Reynard lore in medieval and pre-medieval Europe. Seems likely to reflect an older pagan tradition that was adapting itself to try to survive Christianization.
Like did it start in the Low Countries or northern France and spread from there relatively recently? Or was it already a widespread and popular mytheme that was easily adapted because similar beliefs had already existed in many parts of Europe for a long time?
(I was looking for images from the Roman de Renart, Reynard the Fox, medieval stories about a fox regularly outsmarting a poor wolf, once by pretending he had joined a monastery and giving him a tonsure with boiling water)
It is about a real belief in magical fox spirits, which are called by a variety of names, and discussing the various historical and social aspects of it. I just recently also bought the book Fox Magic by Jason Read, but I haven't started reading it yet.
In folklore, as I understand it, Fox tricksters represent the people who were there when the now-dominant human culture 'populated the empty spaces'. Wildness inevitably leaks around the edges of 'our' tidy, well-constructed village / empire...
Makes me wonder if trickster fox deity was in proto-human religion. We see this pattern everywhere across the world with small changes (i.e. several Native American cultures have a coyote instead of a fox)
my theory is that some early human got their stuff stolen by a fox and got their revenge by going around telling people how sneaky and untrustworthy foxes are
An overblown concern. The Danish sculpture dates to the 16th Century; the Japanese to the 19th. Surely within the span of 300 years a single fox monk could have traversed that distance!
Hesitate to call it overblown; I think it's very reasonable to be concerned about the motives of even a single fox monk taking it upon itself to travel such a distance over such a time.
From the Medieval Bestiary: "The fox is a crafty and deceitful animal that never runs in a straight line, but only in circles... The fox represents the devil."
Most recent sighting:
i wonder if the one on the left is tied to the "Wild Fox" zen koan. The one on the right is probably Reynard, there is a story (if I remember correct) where he disguised himself as a monk.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tXg8tVDfyI
guy 2 looking at the same fox: no no I think I know exactly what you're gonna say and I absolutely see it
Art is the cry of the fox by Yoshitoshi
correlation between Evangelical Christianity and Fox News.
So it can apply to NYC and Sprinter
People say we monkfoxee around!🎵🎶
(I'm a believer)
Most recent sighting:
It's absurd to think there'd be more than one. Use your heads!
https://samlinger.natmus.dk/dmr/asset/168006
and
https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-an-ivory-netsuke-edo-period-5316239/?from=salesummery&intobjectid=5316239&sid=8f99d4e5-b75b-4cc3-952e-d88728306269