Reynard doesn’t rise above but wallows in the courtly intrigue, so the morality play isn’t one of being a good person in the face of adversity. The simple answer to why this is a delight to read revolves around the fact that all the other creatures he menaces earn their mistreatment through greed or cruelty or malice there is no redemption here, only corruption. He’s a liar and a cheat and an absolute scourge, but reading about him and his antics is fascinating. I’m not sure, but surely Reynard would be. I chose to verify this fact independently because, although it was presented to me in a footnote-the socially agreed-upon signal that it comes from the author and not the narrator, who may be unreliable-it is exactly the type of thing Reynard the fox would fabricate.
A story that isn't the bible one of which you've probably never heard, let alone read: The Reynard literary material was so popular in medieval France that the French word for “fox” changed from “goupil” to “reynard” (the word still used in French for “fox”).
A story that was once so popular that it integrated itself into the very essence of language. Imagine you have the chance to read a story that was such a cultural touchstone nearly everyone who could read had read it.
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