- fox. The fox has long been synonymous with cunning and treachery and there are many fables and proverbs based on these attributes. A very strange saying comes from the collection of James Carmichael (died 1628):
It wilbe a gude fyre quhen it burns, it is beginnand to reik, as the tod said quhen he schete on the yse.
[It will be a good fire when it burns, it is beginning to smoke, as the fox said when he shat on the ice.]
Do not go building theories on misleading evidence!
Farmers have always sought to justify the hunting of foxes on the grounds of the damage that they do in the henhouse. Perhaps they should try the preventative measures described by Boece in his Chronicles of Scotland, translated by John Bellenden (1531):
Ilk hous of this cuntre, nurisis ane young tod certane dayis, and mengis the flesche thairof, eftir that it be slane, with sic meit as thay gif to thair fowlis, or uthir smal beistis; and sa mony as etis of this meit ar preservit twa monethis eftir fra ony dammage of toddis, for toddis will eit na flesche that gustis of thair awin kind.
[Every house of this country nourishes a young fox for several days and mixes its flesh, after it is killed, with such food as they give to their poultry, or other small animals, and all those that eat this food are protected for two months after from any harm from foxes, for foxes will eat no flesh that tastes of their own kind.]
No source of heat was wasted in pre-central-heating days. If you ever wanted to know how a king kept warm in bed, the answer is supplied in an entry for 1522 in the Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland:
Item, for ane lynying of tod powtis to the kingis nichtgoun of chamelot viij li. v S
[Item, for a lining of fox pelt for the king's nightgown of chamlet eight pounds five shillings.]
Chamlet is a kind of fine eastern fabric originally of silk and goat hair.