LA LÉGENDE RENARDIENNE ET LES GRENOUILLES D'ARISTOPHANE.

The mythical contents of the Roman de Renart, when compared with Aristophanes' works, reveal common traits with his play The Frogs (405 B.C). In one of the scenes, a lady with a spinningwheel wakes from a nightmare and realises that her cockerel has disappeared. She despairs and calls for help from her handmaidens and certain gods. The spinstress' dream can be usefully compared to the episode from branche II in the Roman de Renart which recounts the dreams of Chantecler and his capture thanks to the fox. A passage from the Odyssey seems to confirm the existence of an ancient tradition linked to this: it is Penelope's dream, in which her geese are killed by an eagle during an oneiric vision, followed by two interpretations of the dream (XV. 143-178). The famous episode of the fox and the wolf in the well, narrated by Rabbi Rachi (1040-1105) among others, which can be found in branche IV of the Roman de Renart, can also be compared to another scene in The Frogs in which Hercules and Dionysus in hell are the protagonists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]