A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

While escaping dogs after an attempted hen theft, a fox runs through a schoolhouse and gets a piece of paper stuck on his tail. At home he tells other foxes that it is a royal order forbidding dogs to attack him. They want to accompany his next raid, but approaching horsemen and hounds force them all into a desperate flight. When his companions challenge him afterward, he claims that anyone able to read the order would obey it.

The paper is never established as a genuine royal document and has no protective magic. The Lorimers explicitly say that the Persian wording of the final excuse is unclear and offer the interpretation that the fox blames the dogs’ inability to read. The other foxes are called brothers in speech and friends elsewhere; this wording alone is not used to assign them a literal shared parentage.

Speaking fox who misrepresents stray paper as royal protection
01

Origins & earliest records

Bakhtiari storytelling, Iran

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and editorial note directly read in original-edition OCR.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Persian Tales

    D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, collectors/translators · 1919

    Bakhtiari tales; XLVII, The Fox and His Order from the King, pp. 306–307

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (London: Macmillan, 1919)

Bakhtiari tales; XLVII. Bakhtiari tales; XLVII, The Fox and His Order from the King, pp. 306–307

Complete tale and final editorial note read. Ordinary deception distinguished from magic; uncertain source-language gloss retained as uncertain. Literal tortoise brotherhood distinguished from fox address-form brothers.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translated folktaleLorimer, Persian Tales (1919), Bakhtiari tales; XLVII, The Fox and His Order from the King, pp. 306–307Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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