Poetry · Chapter
Fox Hunt Yarn explained
A humorous tall tale about a fox hunt gone wrong, where the narrator's horse falls into a well and dies, and the narrator escapes by clinging to buzzards attracted by the carcass.
What happens
A humorous tall tale about a fox hunt gone wrong, where the narrator's horse falls into a well and dies, and the narrator escapes by clinging to buzzards attracted by the carcass.
Themes in this chapter
Community and Social Gatherings
The yarn is a type of communal storytelling, a social activity where tall tales are shared for entertainment.
Moral Lessons and Domestic Virtue
The tale ends with a moral lesson: the narrator is forever dissuaded from fox hunting, implying a caution against reckless pursuits.
Key passages
“This my adventure is no hoax; I mounted horse to hunt a fox, The cunning beast got into cover, Hunting him we rode all over.”
The narrator insists this true story begins with him riding a horse to chase a fox that hid, leading them to ride everywhere.
Sets up the premise of the fox hunt.
“But my fine horse he stumbling fell Down to the bottom of the well, And thus the noble beast was slain.”
The horse stumbled and fell into a well, dying from the fall.
Key incident where the horse is lost.
“Around four of them I did cling, And made them fly aloft on wing. But they flew higher than I wanted, Though T was still quite undaunted; I first let one buzzard slip, Then another on downward trip, ’Till I arrived all safe and sound, Without a scratch on solid ground.”
He grabbed four buzzards and forced them to fly upward, then released them one by one to descend safely to the ground.
The fantastical escape method using buzzards.
“But now no man can ever coax Me to go hunting of a fox.”
After this experience, no one can persuade him to go fox hunting again.
Concluding moral of the story.