Chanticleer and the fox

Chanticleer and the fox

By Geoffrey Chaucer, adapted and ill. Barbara Cooney

This book won the Caldecott Medal in 1958.

A poor widow and her children lived in a small cottage and had three sows, three cows, a sheep, a rooster and seven hens. By carefully managing things, she always had enough food, although it wasn’t fancy.

Her rooster, Chanticleer, loved to crow and was very proud of his voice. One morning, his favorite hen heard him moaning in his sleep and asked him what he was dreaming about. He had dreamed he was caught by a fox, but the hen made fun of him as a coward.

Then the rooster and all the hens pranced around the yard singing happily. But there actually was a fox living nearby who was hiding near the chickens.

When Chanticleer saw the fox he was frightened, but the fox told him that he had heard Chanticleer’s father sing and bet Chanticleer couldn’t sing nearly as well. He said that the father had stood on his toes, stretched out his neck and closed his eyes to make such a beautiful sound.

Chanticleer took the bet, did as the fox described and was immediately nabbed by the fox. The hens made such a ruckus, the widow and all her children and animals chased the fox. He almost got away into the forest, when Chanticleer suggested that he ought to warn the followers to give it up since he was going to eat the rooster anyway.

So the fox did just that, and as soon as he opened his mouth, Chanticleer flew away into a tree. Then they both realized that each had been foolish to follow the other’s boastful suggestions and determined never to be fooled again.

The illustrations in this picture book are made to look like illustrations that might have accompanied the original Chaucer tale that Ms. Cooney adapted for this story. The colors are simple, the style similar to the woodcuts used by printers at the time. The pride of the rooster is evident in his stance, and the final conversation shows each resolving not to be flattered again.

Chaucer, G., & Cooney, B. (1958). Chanticleer and the fox. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.