The Cock, the Dog and the Fox The Cock, the Dog and the Fox The Cock, the Dog and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables and appears as number 252 in the Perry Index. Although it has similarities with other fables where a predator flatters a bird, such as The Fox and the Crow and Chanticleer and the Fox, in this one the cock is the victor rather than victim. There are also Eastern variants of this story. In the Greek story, a cock and a dog go on a journey together. At night, the cock roosts in a tree while the dog curls up at
The Cock, the Dog and the Fox must be messengers from the King of the Beasts. When the agitated fox starts to leave, the cock asks him the reason; the fox replies that he fears the dogs were not present when the peace was announced. This version of the story was an influence on the fable's retelling in Europe. It is to be found early among the humorous tales of Poggio Bracciolini's "Facetiae" (1450), where the fleeing fox explains only that the dogs have not yet heard that peace has been declared. In France the story reappeared in the first book of emblems of Guillaume Gueroult (1550).