and this carries across the decades. The most common usage of animals as characters in tales has made it so the stories that touch on morally gray areas are easier to understand and accept. Reynard the Fox. The given name Reynard is from Reginhard, Raginohardus "strong in counsel". Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard became the standard French word for "fox", replacing the old French word for "fox", which was goupil from Latin vulpēcula. Since Reynard has been written about in many different times and places across the world, it is not uncommon to see changes in his appearance to fit the natural surroundings of his story. His fur is often used as a camouflage, meaning if the story was written in a snowy landscape he will have white fur, or yellow fur for desert areas, in the wooded areas of forest he is depicted in red. Isengrim the Wolf, see Ysengrimus Tibert the Cat; see Tybalt, Prince of cats King Noble the Lion; see king of beasts Bruin the Bear Grimbard the Badger Baldwin the Ass Hirsent the She-wolf Kyward the Hare (also Coart, Cuwaert; a coward) Chanticleer the Cock Bellin the Ram Martin the Ape, who had a son named Moneke that may be source of the word monkey In medieval European folklore and literature Foxes in general have the reputation of tricksters in traditional European folklore. The specific character of Reynard is thought to have originated in Lorraine folklore, from where it spread to France, Germany, and the Low Countries. Alternatively, a 19th-century edition of a retelling of the Reynard fable states definitively with "no doubt whatever that it is of German origin" and relates a conjecture associating the central character with "a certain Reinard of Lorraine, famous for his vulpine qualities in the ninth century". Joseph Jacobs, while seeing an origin in Lorraine, traces classical, German, and "ancient northern folk-lore" elements within the Reynard stories. Jacob Grimm in his Reinhart Fuchs (Berlin, 1834) provided evidence for the supposition on etymological grounds that "stories of the Fox and Wolf were known to the Franks as early as the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries". From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there are around twenty-six different tales of Reynard the Fox. While there might have been more that were written these are the ones that survive to present day. Many of these are written by different