Last
weekend I made a small lino cut and printed it… a fox.
The fox is an animal which speaks to my imagination. It’s a rare and beautiful animal
which you won’t see very often. I remember I used to see two foxes every now
and then in my rear garden when I lived in Edinburgh; a crippled old fox
accompanied by a younger one.
In most
folktales and mythology the fox symbolises trickery and deceit - stories of a
fox stealing food from a raven or deceiving a stork with a meal served on a
flat plate. Probably most of us would refer to a fox as vicious and mean – and this
is because of how the fox is referred to in stories. Since long we ascribe human
characteristics to animals; both Aristoteles in his work Historia Animale and Gaius
Plinius Secundus, a Roman historian and scientific encyclopedist, mentioned the
fox as being vicious.
But there is this other fox too. In some stories the fox is portrayed as a
friend or faithful guardian, as a lover, or as a hero like in the animation of
Robin Hood where the hero is illustrated as a fox by Walt Disney. And did you
know that the name Zorro, the legendary hero, means ‘fox’ in Spanish?
Which fox is the one you know? It all depends on the stories which were handed
down to you isn’t it?
On one hand there is this fox who is vicious, mean, deceitful and who deserves
to be expelled because of his misbehaviour. And on the other hand there is this
same fox – which turns out the be different, the fox who is alert, wild and
untameable. In his heart you’ll find a rebel, fighting injustice, a friend and
faithful guardian!
There is a lot of power in the stories we hear and believe.
