The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers, and sometimes associated with transformation. Literature, film, television, games, music, and other forms of cultural expression may reflect the folklore image and reputation.
The term "foxy"inEnglish ("having the qualities of a fox") 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".
InDogon mythology, the fox[1] is reported to be either the trickster god of the desert, who embodies chaos[2] or a messenger for the gods.[3]
There is a Tswana riddle that says that "Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya [Only the muddy fox lives] meaning that, in a philosophical sense, 'only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life.'
Kuma Lisa is a female fox from Bulgarian folklore and Russian folklore who usually plays the role of the trickster. Kuma Lisa is encountered with another character known as Kumcho Vulcho – a wolf which is opposite to her and very often suffers from her tricks. Veronika Makarova writes that in Western European folklore, words relating to foxes, such as French "renard", have a masculine grammatical gender, which is why Western European foxes are usually depicted as male foxes, but the word лисa (lisa) in Russian has a feminine grammatical gender, which is why nearly all depictions of foxes in Russian folklore are female.[4]
InFinnish mythology, the fox is usually depicted as a cunning trickster, but seldom evil. The fox, while weaker, in the end outsmarts both the evil and voracious wolf and the strong but not-so-cunning bear. It symbolizes the victory of intelligence over both malevolence and brute strength. In Northern Finland, the fox is said to conjure the aurora borealis while it runs through the snowy hills. When the fox’s fur touches the snow it creates magical sparks and sets the sky ablaze. Still today, the Finnish word for the aurora is "revontulet" which literally translates to "fox-fires".
AnOccitan song dating from the Middle Ages, Ai Vis lo Lop, features a wolf (lo lop), a fox (lo rainard) and a hare (lebre) dancing and circling a tree. It has been suggested that the three animals represent the King, Lord and Church who were responsible for taxation (the lyrics go on to refer to money gained over the year and how nothing was left after seeing 'the wolf, the fox and the hare').
InEurope, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, foxes, which were associated with wiliness and fraudulent behavior, were sometimes burned as symbols of the Devil.[5]
In the medieval cycle of Reynard the Fox, he is a trickster interacting with other anthropomorphic animals in a satire of medieval society.
In early Mesopotamian mythology, the fox is one of the sacred animals of the goddess Ninhursag. The fox acts as her messenger.
The Bible's Song of Solomon (2:15) includes a well-known verse "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom" which had been given many interpretations over the centuries by Jewish and Christian Bible commentators.
To the Jewish sage Matteya ben Heresh, of the 2nd century CE, is attributed the maxim: "Meet each man with friendly greeting; be the tail among lions rather than the head among foxes".[6] "The head among foxes" in this context is similar to the English expression "A big fish in a small pond". "Fox fables" are attributed to Rabbi Meir and Johanan ben Zakai, and appeared in a compilation under that namebyBerechiah ha-Nakdan; the term in fact refers also to fables featuring animals other than foxes.
InClassic of Mountains and Seas (edited by Liu Xiang in Han Dynasty and probably composed by people before Qin Dynasty), foxes eat people, and predict war.
In Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese folklores, foxes (huli jing in China, kitsune in Japan, kumihoinKorea, and hồ ly tinh in Vietnam) are powerful spirits that are known for their highly mischievous and cunning nature, and they often take on the form of female humans to seduce men. In contemporary Chinese, the word huli jing is often used to describe a mistress negatively in an extramarital affair. In Shinto of Japan, kitsune sometimes help people as an errand of their deity, Inari.
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted the fox in their art.[7] The Moche people believed the fox to be a warrior that would use his mind to fight. The fox would not ever use physical attack, only mental.
The Medieval Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard was nicknamed "Robert the Fox" as well as the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily – underlining the identification of such qualities with foxes.
During the American Revolution Continental Army Officer Francis Marion became so adept at attacking and ambushing British forces in the swamps of South Carolina that he became known as the "Swamp Fox".
During World War II, the German commander in North Africa, Erwin Rommel, was grudgingly nicknamed the "Desert Fox" by his British adversaries, as a tribute to his cunning and skill in operational art.
The Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) in his Trattato di Sociologia Generale (1916) developed the concept of an elitesocial class, which he divided into cunning 'foxes' and violent 'lions'. In his view of society, the power constantly passes from the 'foxes' to the 'lions' and vice versa.
The words fox and foxy have become slang in English-speaking societies for an individual (most often female) with sex appeal. The word vixen, which is normally the common name for a female fox, is also used to describe an attractive woman—although, in the case of humans, "vixen" tends to imply that the woman in question has a few nasty qualities.
The word shenanigan (a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief) is considered to be derived from the Irish expression sionnachuighim, meaning "I play the fox."[9]
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
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.
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:
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.
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 series: Fox characters include Fortunata, Sela, Chickenhound/Slagar, Urgan Nagru, Silvamord, Nightshade, Vizka Longtooth, and Rasconza. An animated television series based on three of the books was also produced.
1989 – Garry Kilworth, Hunter's Moon: The life and tragedies of a fox family which describes foxes' own mythology.
1989 – William Wharton, Franky Furbo: A magical fox rescues an American soldier and then journeys in search for proof of the unusual story.
1994 – Gillian Rubinstein, Foxspell, in which a fox's god propose that a young boy become a fox in favor to proper burial of dead fox's body.
1995 – Lajos Parti Nagy, Fox Affair at Sunset (lit. "Fox Object at Sunset"), a postmodern death poem with nostalgic irony.[11]
1998 – Elizabeth Hand, Last Summer at Mars Hills: An Indian boy has magical amulet which allows him change into a fox.
1999 – Kij Johnson, The Fox Woman, in which one of the protagonists is a fox woman named Kitsune.
2001 and 2003 – Mordicai Gerstein, Fox Eyes and Old Country, in which anyone can switch bodies with fox if he looks into their eyes long enough.
2002 – N. M. Browne, Hunted: A comatose girl wakes up in a fox's body in a fantasy world.
2005 – Victor Pelevin, The Sacred Book of Werewolf: The kitsune A-huli searches for a path to Nirvana for were-creatures.
1987 – The Little Troll Prince Towards the climax of the special a fox chases Bu's Brothers, Borch and Prag, and their friends, Stav and Ribo back up the mountain to the Troll Kingdom.
1987 – Sylvanian Families: The members of the Slydale Family are Slick, Velvette, Buster, Scarlett, Skitter and Lindy from the animated TV series.
1987 – Maple Town: The members of the Fox Family are Fanny, Freddy, Mr. and Mrs. Fox from the animated series.
1990 – Disney's TaleSpin: several fox characters appear in the series, such as Katie Dodd, Myra Foxworthy, Muffy Vanderschmear and Buffy Vanderschmear.
1990–91 – Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (Samurai Pizza Cats): whose main antagonist Kitsunezuka Ko'on-no-Kami a prime minister in Edoropolis (in the Saban English version, he's known as Seymour "The Big" Cheese, and is a rat instead).
1997 – Tezuka's In the Beginning: The Bible Stories: Vixy, a vixen narrator.
1999 – Cosgrove Hall's The Foxbusters: Cartoon series based on Dick King Smith's novel about a group of chickens defending their farm against a gang of foxes.
1999–2001 – Pablo the Little Red Fox: A BBC series that revolves around the adventures of three child foxes and the misadventures they have.
2002 – Balto II: Wolf Quest, sequel to 1995's Balto, featuring a cunning fox fooling Balto while the latter searches for his daughter. The fox was voiced by Mary Kay Bergman, in one of her final voice roles before her death in 1999.
2003–2006 – Sonic X is a TV series which focused on Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and all of their friends being teleported to the real world.
2015 – Ge Shuiying's CGI film Agent F.O.X.: Agent F.O.X., a super spy fox
2015 – Yoyotoki HappyEars from the animated series Yoyotoki HappyEars
2016 – Disney's animated film Zootopia (also known as Zootropolis in some countries) features three fox characters: Nick Wilde, one of the main protagonists, as well as Gideon Grey and Finnick, two supporting characters.
2018–present – 101 Dalmatian Street features Fergus Fox who is recurring character in the show.
2018–2020 – Unikitty! features Dr. Fox, who is the castle's resident scientist whose experiments and inventions can both create and resolve problems.
2019–present – Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart features Rufus, a sly and cunning fox who swindles the Sweetypies of Pure Heart Valley.
2019 – Swifty and Jade from the animated film Arctic Dogs.
2020 – "Tale of the Nine Tailed" features a nine-tailed fox that abdicates his position as the guardian mountain spirit of Baekdudaegan to search for the reincarnation of his one true love. Season 2 is currently under production and is expected to be released in 2023.
2010 – The kawaii metal group Babymetal claims to perform in accordance to revelations from the Fox God and have a recurring fox motif, including their 2013 single "Megitsune".
2012 – Louisa Rose Allen or known as her stage name Foxes.
2016 – Baby Shark Dance is a popular kids' song made by the children's education brand Pinkfong. The mascot of the brand, a pink fox, appears in the video.
In the video game series Metal Gear Solid, the special forces group is known as "FOXHOUND". Additionally the title of Grey Fox was given to Frank Jaeger.
Ninetails, a major boss character from the game Ōkami.
Raposão/McFox, a character from the Brazilian comic series Lionel's Kingdom.
Fix and Foxi, a German comic series where the title characters are two fox brothers.
InKiss, in Psycho Circus #14 and #15, the members of Kiss are portrayed as supernatural beings who train a Feudal Japanese samurai to outsmart supernatural foxes.
Gunnerkrigg Court – The comic's main character Antimony has a fox companion whose spirit is trapped in a doll of a white wolf, a symbol for AntimonyinAlchemy.
Sixteen ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Fox, after the animal. Also vessels of other navies and civilian ships bore such a name.
Johnson, T. W. "Far Eastern Fox Lore." Asian Folklore Studies 33, no. 1 (1974): 35–68. Accessed 1 July 2020. doi:10.2307/1177503.
Krappe, Alexander H. "Far Eastern Fox Lore." California Folklore Quarterly 3, no. 2 (1944): 124–47. Accessed 1 July 2020. doi:10.2307/1495763.
Van Deusen, Kira. "The Fox-Wife." In Kiviuq: An Inuit Hero and His Siberian Cousins, 234–57. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009. Accessed 1 July 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt813zv.16.
Ting, Nai-tung. "A Comparative Study of Three Chinese and North-American Indian Folktale Types." Asian Folklore Studies 44, no. 1 (1985): 41–43. Accessed 1 July 2020. doi:10.2307/1177982.
