The Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe

It is the first of the fable in the poem to be based on Reynardian and beast epic sources rather than on any strictly Aesopian original, although the closest match from Aesop might be The Dog, the Cock and the Fox.

Schir Lowrence, a fox "full sair hungrie," creeps one morning early into the farmyard which neighbours the "thornie schaw of grit defence" which is "his residence."

So close a friend he was to the bird's father that the tod was present at his death to hald his heid and gif him drinkis warme ... syne [say] the dirigie quhen that he wes deid.

This complex web of flattery and highly ambiguous assurance persuades Chanticleir to perform the foolish act, allowing Lowrence swiftly to hint him be the throte and hy with him to the wood.

Finally Toppok, lyke ane curate, preaches a sermon full crous which pronounces the cockerel's destruction as no more than his just and inevitable reward due to his failure to repent his sexual venality.

Chanticleir takes the opportunity of the pursuit of the widow's kennetis (hounds) and Lowrence's physical exhaustion to persuade the fox in mynd (line 556) to turn briefly and assure the dogs that he and the cock are friends.