Chanticleer and the Fox the question of its origin. It has also been asserted that the tale has developed out of the basic situation in Aesop's fable of The Fox and the Crow. Early examples of the story are pithily fabular but towards the middle of the 12th century it appears as an extended episode of the "Reynard cycle" under the title "How Renart captured Chanticleer the cock" ("Si comme Renart prist Chanticler le Coq"). The work of which it was part was immensely popular and spread widely in translation. The basic situation concerns the cock Chanticleer, who lives with his three wives in
Reynard the Fox a highly sophisticated development of Reynardian material as part of his "Morall Fabillis" in the sections known as "The Talking of the Tod". Hans van Ghetelen, a printer of Incunabula in Lübeck printed an early German version called "Reinke de Vos" in 1498. It was translated to Latin and other languages, which made the tale popular across Europe. Reynard is also referenced in the Middle English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" during the third hunt. Tybalt in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is named after the cat in Reynard the Fox (and is called 'Prince of Cats' by Mercutio