The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers, and sometimes associated with transformation. Literature, film, television, games, music, and other forms of cultural expression may reflect the folklore image and reputation.
The term "foxy" in English ("having the qualities of a fox") can also connote attractiveness, sexiness, or being red-haired. The term "to outfox" means "to beat in a competition of wits", similarly to "outguess", "outsmart", and "outwit".
In folklore and wisdom
Africa
In Dogon mythology, the fox is reported to be either the trickster god of the desert, who embodies chaos or a messenger for the gods.
There is a Tswana riddle that says that "Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya [Only the muddy fox lives] meaning that, in a philosophical sense, 'only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life.'
Europe
Kuma Lisa is a female fox from Bulgarian folklore and Russian folklore who usually plays the role of the trickster. Kuma Lisa is encountered with another character known as Kumcho Vulcho – a wolf which is opposite to her and very often suffers from her tricks. Veronika Makarova writes that in Western European folklore, words relating to foxes, such as French "renard", have a masculine grammatical gender, which is why Western European foxes are usually depicted as male foxes, but the word лисa (lisa) in Russian has a feminine grammatical gender, which is why nearly all depictions of foxes in Russian folklore are female.
In Scotland, the trickster figure of the fox (or tod in traditional Scots) was represented as Lowrence, as in the Morall Fabillis of Robert Henryson.
In Finnish mythology, the fox is depicted usually a cunning trickster, but seldom evil. The fox, while weaker, in the end outsmarts both the evil and voracious wolf and the strong but not-so-cunning bear. It symbolizes the victory of intelligence over both malevolence and brute strength. In Northern Finland, the fox is said to conjure the aurora borealis while it runs through the snowy hills. When the fox’s fur touches the snow it creates magical sparks and sets the sky ablaze. Still today, the Finnish word for the aurora is "revontulet" which literally translates to "fox-fires".
An Occitan song dating from the Middle Ages, Ai Vis lo Lop, features a wolf (lo lop), a fox (lo rainard) and a hare (lebre) dancing and circling a tree. It has been suggested that the three animals represent the King, Lord and Church who were responsible for taxation (the lyrics go on to refer to money gained over the year and how nothing was left after seeing 'the wolf, the fox and the hare').
In Europe, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, foxes, which were associated with wiliness and fraudulent behavior, were sometimes burned as symbols of the Devil.
Middle East
In early Mesopotamian mythology, the fox is one of the sacred animals of the goddess Ninhursag. The fox acts as her messenger.
The Bible's Song of Solomon (2:15) includes a well-known verse "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom" which had been given many interpretations over the centuries by Jewish and Christian Bible commentators.
To the Jewish sage Matteya ben Heresh, of the 2nd century CE, is attributed the maxim: "Meet each man with friendly greeting; be the tail among lions rather than the head among foxes". "The head among foxes" in this context is similar to the English expression "A big fish in a small pond". "Fox fables" are attributed to Rabbi Meir and Johanan ben Zakai, and appeared in a large compilation by Berechiah ha-Nakdan; the term in fact refers also to fables featuring animals other than foxes.
East Asia
In Classic of Mountains and Seas (edited by Liu Xiang in Han Dynasty and probably composed by people before Qin Dynasty), foxes eat people, and predict war. In Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese folklores, foxes (huli jing in China, kitsune in Japan, kumiho in Korea, and hồ ly tinh in Vietnam) are powerful spirits that are known for their highly mischievous and cunning nature, and they often take on the form of female humans to seduce men. In contemporary Chinese, the word huli jing is often used to describe a mistress negatively in an extramarital affair. In Shinto of Japan, kitsune sometimes help people as an errand of their deity, Inari.