53. Vulpes et Taxus. Vulpes, cum debuisset suspendi et taxus eam duceret ad curiam leonis, facta confessione de omnibus peccatis, eodem die vidit gallinas iuxta domum cuiusdam hominis. Et taxo ait, “Illa est via qua incedere debemus, scilicet iuxta domum illam quam videmus.” Cui taxus respondit, “Misera, hodie confessionem mihi fecisti de cunctis peccatis tuis, et confessa eo quod multas gallinas devorasti, et promisisti Deo in manu mea quod de cetero abstineres.” Cui vulpes ait, “Verum dicis, sed ego tradideram oblivioni.”
Image Source: Tiles painted by
Francis Hosker.
M0053 (not in Perry). Source: De Vitry 297. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Perry was not systematic in his coverage of medieval sources. The classical Latin name for the badger is meles; the word taxus is commonly found in medieval sources. You can see the same root in the German Dachs-hund, “badger-dog,” because the dog was bred to flush badgers out of their burrows. For another story about the fox’s confession, see #228.
