Pfingsten, das liebliche Fest, war gekommen


Since the Middle Ages, the fable of the fox and the cunning way in which he overcomes his enemies was rewritten and adapted many times. It was further developed in the famous Low German folk poem Reynke de vos (Reynard the Fox), published anonymously in Lübeck in 1498. This was Goethe's model for his fable of 1794.

The story was originally a parody of courtly society, and a satirical mirror held up to the prince. Goethe turned it into a "mirror of the court and the regent", revealing human weaknesses and vices. Reineke is transformed from the evil villain to the mischievous buffoon.


  
 
Again Prechtl does not illustrate the picture in the strict sense of the word. His twenty watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings of animals become an independent work. They do refer to the story, but often go far beyond it. Sometimes clear historical references are made (Ein Laich, ein Teich, ein Führer), and sometimes there are ambivalent references to contemporary politics (Katerfrühstück).