 According to Dorothy Yamamoto , the significant themes in the tale are " <unk> and vacancy , substance and illusion " . The cheese that apparently resides in the well is only an illusion , not a solid object , and similarly the fox creates a surface reconciliation between the wolf and the husbandman , but which betrays his real intentions . Through their frequent misuse , words that should convey real value are emptied of meaning . As an example , Yamamoto highlights the fox 's <unk> on which the wolf and husbandman make their pledge — which body part she says is used by the fox in other tales to blind his <unk> , and is thereby a highly inappropriate object to use . 
