Conflicting Interpretations of Eight Fables

Just as the central frieze of the Bayeux Embroidery depicts Harold dux Anglorum and his “milites” leaving a second-story banquet hall at Bosham, boarding ship, and sailing out to sea, the lower border shows the first in an uninterrupted series of Aesopian fables, the last of which appears just as the English reach land and are captured by a lord called Guy (W4-8; Figs 2–4). Previous writers on the embroidery are generally agreed that the series includes eight fables, referred to here as the “canonical” eight to distinguish them from other fables also represented but rarely if ever noticed. They can be summarized as follows. In Fox and Crow – which reappears first in the lower border, after Harold meets with William, duke of the Normans (W18; Fig. 9), and then in the upper one, as he returns to England (W27–8; Fig. 14) – the crow found a piece of cheese, but the fox tricked him into dropping it and ate it himself (W4; Plate III; Fig. 2). The wolf in Wolf and Lamb met the lamb drinking from a stream and made false charges against him, which the lamb rebutted. But the wolf ate him anyway (W4; Plate III; Fig. 2). Bitch and Puppies – which the lower border shows again, shortly before the Battle of Hastings (W59–60; Fig. 29) – tells how one bitch loaned her lair to another who was pregnant and later allowed her to keep it until her puppies were older. When she returned a second time, the other bitch drove her away (W4–5; Plate III; Fig. 2). In Wolf and Crane – which is repeated in the upper border, as Harold returns to England (W27; Fig. 14) – the wolf promised a reward to the crane for extracting a bone from his throat. After she removed the bone and claimed her reward, however, he denied her (W5; Plate III; Fig. 2).

In Lion King, the lion swore not to eat meat, but later devoured his subjects one by one (W5–6; Fig. 3). In Frog, Mouse, and Kite, the frog agreed to help the mouse cross a river – and then drowned him by tying one of his legs to one of hers and dragging him down to the river bottom.