« Le Lion, la Vieille et le Renard », une fable démoralisante

This article discusses the possible sources for the enigmatic chapter 15 of Pantagruel, where Rabelais boldly mixes the well-established codes of fable, fabliau, and exemplum. The article aims to identify the hypotexts of the episode, which generate contradictory emotions in the reader, provoked both by the codes of edifying literature and the audacity of the comic tradition - with the whole thing animated by a strongly renardien spirit of mischief.