Chanticleer and the Fox
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The tale of Chanticleer and the Fox is a beast fable popularised by the 14th century Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer's 625 line poem comprises the Nun's Priest's Tale, one of his Canterbury Tales.
The tale follows the monk's depressing accounts of despots and fallen heroes and, as well as sharing these themes, the tale also parodies them. It also has ideas in common with earlier tales with the marriage between Chanticleer and Pertelote echoing the domestic lives depicted in tales like Franklin's and The Tale of Melibee. These different themes help to unify several tales and offers a lively story from a previously almost invisible character.
Like many of the tales, the date Chanticleer was written cannot be fixed with any accuracy, although 1392 is a frequently considered date. Some scholars believed the work to be a satirical retelling of a duel in 1397 between Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk and Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV), but this is now thought unlikely. Chaucer based his adaptation on Del cok e del gupil, the work of the 12th century French poet Marie de France, and the 13th century French epic Le Roman de Renart. There are also echos of several of Aesop's fables. This blend of fable and beast epic gives the tale much of its liveliness, but the extent to which Chaucer meant it to be an allegory or even to satirise allegorical animal stories is uncertain.
Plot
The tale concerns a world of talking animals who reflect both human insight and error. Its protagonist is Chanticleer, a proud rooster who dreams of his approaching doom in the form of a hound. Frightened, he awakens his "wife" Pertelote, who assures him he only suffers from indigestion and chides him for paying heed to a simple dream. After recounting stories of other prophets who foresaw their deaths, Chanticleer is comforted by Pertelote and proceeds to greet a new day.
Unfortunately for Chanticleer, he predicted his doom correctly. A sly fox who has tricked Chanticleer's father and mother to their downfall now awaits Chanticleer's inflated ego. When the fox insists upon hearing the cock crow, Chanticleer sticks out his neck just a little too far and is promptly snatched from the yard. As the fox is chased through the forest, Chanticleer (all the while dangling from the fox's jaws) suggests that the fox should pause to tell his pursuers to give up their chase.
Now the fox's haughtiness rears its ugly head, and as the fox complies, the rooster falls out and proceeds to fly up the nearest tree. The fox tries in vain to convince the wary Chanticleer, who now prefers the safety of the tree and fails to fall for the same trick a second time.
The Nun's Priest wraps up his story with a moral, admonishing his audience to be careful of reckless decisions and of "truste on flaterye."
Adaptations
- The Nun's Priest's Tale was put to music in 1951 by Gordon Jacob.
- It was again put to music in 1976 as "Rooster Rag" by Michael Hurd.
- Walter Wangerin, Jr. used the characters of Chanticleer and Pertelote in The Book of the Dun Cow (1978) .