Tricksters: Roman de Renart

Carrying on with this week dedicated to Reynard the Fox, I have two offerings from Oxford University Press today. one for young readers, and one that is more academic. Here's the book for young readers in the Oxford Myths and Legends series: Renard the Fox by Rachel Anderson and David Bradby.

The illustrations are by Bob Dewar, and there is a mix of color and black-and-white drawings; I love this one of Renard the musician:

These are the stories you will find here: Adam, Eve, and Renard; Renard and Wolf; Renard and Crow; Renard and Heron; Renard and Wolf Go Fishing; Renard Changes Colour; Renard, Sheep, and Donkey; Renard and the Eels; Renard and the Rooster; Renard Goes to Paradise; Renard and the Fatty Sausage; and Renard and the Blue-Tit. 

All those stories are adapted from the medieval French Roman de Renart, and you can read a scholarly translation of that work in this book from the Oxford World's Classics series: The Romance of Reynard the Fox, in a new translation by D. D. R. Owen. 

The book provides a detailed introduction to the medieval Reynard literature in general and to the Roman de Renart in particular. The translation is in prose, but with line number references for people who want to compare the translation with the French text as edited by Dufournet, which you can also find at the Archive: Le Roman de Renart.

And come back tomorrow for even more adventures with Reynard the Fox! There are plenty of books to fill the whole week, and more besides. :-)

Renard the Fox

by Rachel Anderson and David Bradby

The Romance of Reynard the Fox
by D. D. R. Owen

Le Roman de Renart

[French edition]