The Fox Who Feigned Death

The fox, the bestiary warns, is an animal entirely made of tricks. Hungry and unable to hunt, it rolls in red earth until it looks bloodied, then lies motionless on its back, tongue lolling, holding its breath until it seems truly dead. Carrion birds descend to feed — and the fox springs up and eats them instead. This folio's border turns the trick into pure ornament: birds swoop from every corner toward the sprawled red fox, while a ring of small fox heads peers up from a painted river below, watching their own kind's deception replayed. Medieval commentators read the fox as the Devil himself, who feigns death to every soul, luring the unwary close with a show of harmlessness before he strikes. It is one of the bestiary's bluntest moral warnings, wrapped in one of its liveliest compositions.

Maker

Unknown English illuminator

Date

c. 1200

Medium of the original

Illuminated manuscript

Original held by

University of Aberdeen

Credit

University of Aberdeen

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00931