Reynard the Fox · Willem, 1260
How does Reynard the Fox end?
He escapes
Reynaert slips away with his family. The king makes peace with the bear and the wolf, and Belijn the ram pays for it.
Set free at the gallows, Reynaert sets off as a pilgrim, with Cuwaert the hare and Belijn the ram for company. At Maleperduis he kills Cuwaert and eats him with his family, then sends Belijn back to court with a bag of “letters for the king”. Inside is Cuwaert's head.
King Nobel roars. He has been fooled, and he has put Bruun and Isengrim in chains for nothing. Firapeel the leopard finds a way out: free them, and hand them Belijn and all his family, to do with as they please, in field and forest, until doomsday. The king agrees. Firapeel also says they will all go after Reynaert and hang him without trial.
They never do. Reynaert has already packed up his wife and children and left, and the story ends without him. The villain wins, Belijn pays, and the poet doesn't pretend otherwise. That's a big part of why the poem is still read.
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