Lesson guide · Ages 10–14

Reynard the Fox

Willem

It's Pentecost and King Nobel the lion holds court. Every animal comes except Reynaert the fox, and they all have a complaint about him. The king sends three messengers to fetch him. The first two come back hurt; the third brings him in. Reynaert talks his way off the gallows with a story about hidden treasure and walks free. A poet who calls himself Willem wrote it in the 13th century, and it's set in the real Waasland, between Ghent and Antwerp.

In this lesson the class reads first and explores after. The world is a map of the story, not a film of it, so each pupil's own picture of Maleperduis comes first, and the map is something to compare it with.

Open the world → · Print worksheet

Learning goals

• Language: story and characters. Follow the plot in four parts (court day, three messengers, the gallows, back to Maleperduis). Describe the main animals: what each one wants, and how Reynaert turns that against them.
• Language: irony and tricks. Spot the tricks and the irony. Reynaert plays the hermit, the penitent and the pilgrim, and each time he means the opposite of what he says. Why do his lies work?
• History: the Middle Ages. Place the story in the 13th century: a king holding court, gallows, priests and monasteries, pilgrimages to Rome. Ghent was the big cloth city of Flanders.
• Geography: the Waasland and map reading. Find Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, Belsele, Hulst and the Schelde on the map. Tell real places from made-up ones, and work out walking times with the scale (about 4 km an hour).
• Citizenship: lying and justice. Talk about lying, trust and fair punishment. Why does the king believe someone everyone knows is a liar? Is it fair that Belijn pays for what Reynaert did?

45-minute lesson outline

1. 7 min
   Read or listen. Read the start of the story aloud, or tell it: court day, the complaints, Bruun sent off to Maleperduis. Keep the world closed for now. Ask: why would someone stay away when the king calls?
2. 7 min
   Draw it yourself first. Pupils draw Maleperduis (or Lamfroit's split oak) in the box on the worksheet, the way they imagine it, from the text alone. There's no wrong drawing. A burrow, a castle, both: it's their call.
3. 8 min
   Open the world and compare. Now project the world and fly to Maleperduis and Lamfroit's yard. Pupils compare with their drawing: what's the same, what's different, and which do they like better, and why? They write one difference on the worksheet.
4. 10 min
   Explore and find (pairs). Pairs do the three tasks on the worksheet on their own devices, using the links below. Show the flat Map view (3D | Map, or the m key) so they can tell real places from made-up ones.
5. 8 min
   Hero or villain?. Discuss two or three of the questions. Draw two columns on the board: things Reynaert does that are clever, and things he does that are wrong.
6. 5 min
   Exit ticket. Students take the 'Where was this?' quiz and write their score on the worksheet.

Discussion questions

1. Is Reynaert a hero or a villain? Can he be both? Give an example from the story.
2. Everyone knows Reynaert lies. So why does the king believe him at the gallows? What does the king want?
3. Bruun wants honey and Tibeert wants mice. How does Reynaert use that to trick them?
4. Reynaert dresses up as a hermit, confesses to Grimbeert and sets off as a pilgrim. Is he sorry at all? How can you tell?
5. Cuwaert backs up Reynaert's story about Kriekeputte. Why do you think he does that? What would you have done?
6. At the end, Belijn and his family are handed over to Bruun and Isengrim. Is that fair? Who really deserves to be punished?
7. Reynaert gets away and is never caught. Why might the poet end the story like that?
8. The poet uses real villages from the Waasland and makes up other places. Why mix real and made-up places in one story?

Explore and find

Each link opens the world at one scene. Students read the card, look around the map, and answer.

1. The split trunk: What does Reynaert promise Bruun, and how does the trap work? How far is Lamfroit's yard from Maleperduis on the map?
   Answer

   Honey inside a half-split oak trunk, held open with two wedges. Bruun pushes his head and paws in, Reynaert pulls the wedges out, and the trunk snaps shut. About 3.5 km (made up).
2. The priest's trap: Why is there a snare in the priest's barn? What happens to Tibeert?
   Answer

   The priest's son set it to catch the fox who steals their hens. Tibeert gets caught, beaten, and loses an eye. He bites the priest, chews through the rope and runs.
3. Kriekeputte by Hulsterlo: Where does Reynaert say the treasure is? Find it on the map. Is it a real place? Who backs up his story?
   Answer

   At Kriekeputte, by the wood of Hulsterlo. The names are real, but nobody knows exactly where they were; the map puts them in the north of the Waasland, near Hulst. Cuwaert the hare says Kriekeputte exists. There is no treasure.

Exit ticket: the quiz

8 scenes; students place each one on the map and write their score on the worksheet. Open the quiz →

Where this simplifies

• This is a retelling. The original poem is in Middle Dutch and much longer; the timeline keeps the plot but cuts a lot. You can read the original on DBNL.
• The cruel parts are told without detail: Coppe's death, the beatings, Cuwaert killed inside the burrow and his head in the bag. They are still in the story, so read the cards yourself before you show them to younger pupils.
• The court, Maleperduis, Lamfroit's yard, the priest's barn and the gallows are made up, and so are the paths between them. Hulsterlo, Kriekeputte and Elmare are real names, but where exactly they were is a guess. Ghent, Hijfte, Belsele and Absdale are where they really are.
• The animals are drawn huge so you can see them, and the land is shown 30 times higher than it is. The real Waasland is almost flat.

Worksheet

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