ABSTRACT
The theme of animal helpers exists in real life, as in the Younger Pliny’s tale of the boy and the dolphin. Two contrasting workings of the Arion story underline the sanctity of the artist and the dolphin’s response to song. The parallel stories of a helpful gnat and a helpful snake emphasise the human-animal bonds still further. The world of animals affecting to be human appears in the oldest known version of Half-chick, and in the case of Piglet’s last will. It is a challenge to relate the tale of the fox-girl Alope to Puss in Boots, but the morality of the tale is there when it is missing in early modern versions: the child who inherits the royal tokens will prevail.
