xxii REYNARD THE FOX

Reynard, which he included in his essay on
Larly German Literature, regarded it almost
solely from this point of view.

‘A true Irony must have dwelt in the
Poet’s heart and head. Here, under grotesque
shadows, he gives us the sadder picture of
Reality ; yet for us without Sadness ; his figures
mask themselves in uncouth bestial vizards,
and enact gambolling ; their Tragedy dissolves
into sardonic grins.’

The progress of critical research has shown
that Carlyle was mistaken in regarding Irony
as the original motive force for the Reynard
Cycle, which came in later in the French
developments of it in consonance with the
satiric tendencies of the Gallic genius. But in
its inception the Reynard was a Beast Comedy
rather than a Beast Satire. The Comedy came
from the Folk, the Satire from the Literary
Artist. The closest analogy is offered by
those modern redressings of folk-tales like
Thackeray’s Rose and Ring, or Mr. Lang’s
Prince Prigio, worthy pendant to that other,
in which the modern literary artist uses the
Folk form in which to express his genial Satire.

Reverting for a moment to the form in
which the earlier adventures of Reynard are