Reynard Fox was a persona possibly first created in the literature of Rome. The first stories were transferred into the literature of what is now being called "old Europe". They were not translated, but written anew for the then new languages, Old German, Old French, and Old English. Some of these stories may be far older than the Roman Empire and contain the folk wisdom inherent in the knowledge that we suffer our leaders. They do not tolerate us as much as we tolerate them. They were written in rhymed couplets. It seems likely that they were often sung or recited by wandering minstrels, during the early parts of the second millennium. The humor in those rhymes is never politically correct. The purpose of those rhymes was to amuse the common folk; and perhaps sometimes even to enlighten those who would be kings in the follies that kingship inevitably brings.

In the time of Kings and Queens pride
Reynard Fox would not be denied
The pleasures that freedom oft brings
The right to tweak even the kings
The joys of the bed and the board
The triumphs that wit can afford
Were all to his credit enjoyed
And all of his wits were deployed
In denying the clergy and court
The hiding of folly or wart.
Thus would I have it be now
That those with their wits in their prow
Be ever the butt of our joke
And all of us more common folk
Whether of one kind or another
Should not bow to ugly big brother!