This epic in six books, on the life of John the Baptist, was written in 1662 by Vondel, and bears many traits of resemblance to Milton's Paradise Lost.
It has been conjectured that the most famous of all the animal epics or beast fables originated in Flanders or Luxembourg, which for a time was included in the Low Countries.

This epic, which has been translated into every European language and has even found its way into the Far East, has been frequently remodelled.

The oldest extant MS.

in Latin dates back to the eleventh or twelfth century.

Among modern versions the most clever, finished, and popular is Goethe's "Reinecke Fuchs."[33] In this poem he describes how the animals assemble at Whitsuntide to complain to their king, Noble, the Lion, about the dark deeds of Reynard the Fox.