Tybert the Cat

So it goes with Reynard the fox, that twice now he is summoned to appear before the King of beasts, the lion. The bear failed miserably in his mission, having gone to fetch the pointy-eared animal and bring him back. When finally the bear made his appearance, being named Bruin, and once a great and fearsome beast, he was a sad sight to behold. For a great distance he “wentled” his way back to the court, bare of the skin from his front feet, missing an ear or two, and bleeding red from his head. What exactly transpired between Bruin and Reynard is not exactly clear, but the king, upon seeing the poor bear, became enraged anew.

“So now we have to go get him again!” roared the lion. “Tybert, this task falls to you.”
So Tybert the cat responded, “Why me? If the bear, who is surely much sturdier and robust than I, could not succeed in this task, what makes you think I’m going to fare any better?”
“Well, you are his friend and all,” said the lion. “Besides, I’m the king, and you have to do it. There will be no further discussion.”
So sadly Tybert leaves the court in search of Reynard, who is reported to be at home.

Upon arriving at Rynard’s house, Tybert is greeted warmly, offered some honey before turning in for the night.
“Don’t you have anything else?” the cat asks.
“What did you have in mind?” replies the fox.
“A nice fat mouse would be good. Do you know where we can find any?”
“OH! It’s a mouse he wants! It so happens that the priest, whose house I visited just this evening last, has been sorely plagued by these little runners. They have caused him no small amount of hurt.”
“Can we go there?” asks Tybert.
Since the priest in question lived not far from Reynard, the two go off together in search of an evening meal for the cat.

Upon arriving before the small hole, which the fox has traditionally used to gain entrance to the Priest’s estate, the two stop and consider the opening in the wall.
“You go first,” says the fox.
“Me?” replies the cat.
“Yes, go ahead. There are plenty of mice on the other side. Let me know when you’ve had your fill.”
So the cat enters that hole, is immediately caught in a trap, or “gryn” that the priest has set. For it was on his last visit that Reynard took one of the priest’s hens and made off with it. Well the fox knew what awaited him on the other side of the hole, as the priest was not to be fooled twice.

The fox, delighted not to have been caught in the gryn, asks from outside the hole if the cat is enjoying his feast of mice. Then the priest, hearing Tybert’s laments, gets up, and--naked as the day he was born--goes to where he has set the trap. There he flogs the cat without mercy, so that the poor creature is beaten within an inch of his life, and loses an eye to boot. Then it is the priest who suffers a blow to his body and manhood; for, during a pause in the beating, the cat makes straight for the area between the priest’s legs, an area held dear by the priest and his woman, and does great harm to that region, so that the priest is sorely impeded in his ability to function that way. Harsh are his laments. Harsher still the laments of his wife, who rues the day the gryn was set, a gryn meant to trap the hardened criminal Reynard, but that has trapped instead this cat.

So, as the priest lies naked and bleeding, and his attendants see what can be done about his wounds, Tybert gnaws at the thing that binds him, sets himself free and now is outside the walls of the estate. Now it is the cat who comes wentling back to the court, reports what has happened on that evening where he and Reynard were supposed to dine together on mice. The king’s rage is now doubled.
“Twice we have gone to fetch the accused fox! Twice has he befuddled our efforts! Oh, good grief, here we go again!” And now he asks the assembled animals who will be so audacious as to try anew, seeing the sore hurt that the fox has caused the previous two messengers.

Then it was that the nephew of Reynard, Grymbart, spoke up.
“I think that my uncle, having been summoned twice, should have one more chance to show himself here. If still he refuses, then I believe he should be judged guilty of his offenses in his absence.
“Hmm, that’s a good idea,” says the king. Now, who wants to go and inform him of all this?”
Grymbart spoke anew, saying: “If you will order it, I shall be the one burdened with this task. Say the word, and I will be off to my uncle’s house to tell him the wishes of the court.”

So it was that Grymbart, nephew of Reynard, set out to fetch his uncle and escort him back to the lion’s court to face his accusers.