quality, and indicate a tendency to allegory. These names increase in the later development of the romance. In the beginning when the beasts had only personal adventures, these were told by the Folk to raise a laugh. Later there was a meaning underneath the laugh and the Beast Epic Comedy of the Folk grew into the world Beast Satire of the literary artist.
Reynard exhibits the bare struggle for existence which was generally characteristic of Feudal life. Cunning opposes force and triumphs over it. The adventurous hero appeals because of his faculty of adjustment, his power to adapt himself to circumstances and to master them. He also appeals because of his small size when compared with the other animals. In the Middle Ages Reynard appealed because it was a satire upon the monks. Of Reynard Carlyle has said, "It comes before us with a character such as can belong only to very few; that of being a true World's Book which through centuries was everywhere at home, the spirit of which diffused itself into all languages and all minds."
About one tenth of European folk-lore is traced to collections used in the Middle Ages: Fables of Bidpai, Seven Wise Masters, Gesta Romanorum, and Barlaam and Josophat. These tales became diffused through the Exempla of the monks, used in their sermons, through the Novelle of Italy, the Decameron of Boccaccio, the Tales of Chancer, Painter's Palace of Pleasure, and the Elizabethan Drama of England. One half of La Fontaine's Fables are of Indian sources.
1326. The Gesta Romanorum, written in Latin. This was a compilation, by the monks, of stories with a moral appended to each. It was the most popular story-book before the invention of printing. In England it was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, of which
