From the first branch of the Roman de Renart right up to the latest telling of the Reynard story we have the scene of a fight between a trapped tom-cat and a man. In the medieval versions of the story this man is a priest. The fight ends in a disastrous way for him because the cat succeeds in tearing off one testicle (with ‘claws and teeth’). In the Roman de Renart the cat, who himself has lost an eye, comforts himself with the knowledge that henceforth the priest will be able to ring only one bell. In the Netherlandish version, which is the basis for all subsequent European renderings of this scene, the words of the cat are put into the mouth of the fox. He makes an ironic speech of comfort addressed to the priest’s wife who had, prior to this, lamented the loss of the priest’s potency. The fox must laugh so much during this speech that he lets off an almighty fart. Thus we find in this scene elements from three domains that can evoke taboo-reactions in Western culture. These are the domains of sex, religion and (to a lesser degree) scatology.

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ISBN: 1-57181-737-9