THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

Walter Wangerin, Jr.’s The Book of the Dun Cow is an allegorical tale based most closely on Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” from his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, although Wangerin also draws from Chaucer’s source materials of the stories of Reynard the Fox with a dose of the Norse myth of Jörmungandr thrown into the mix.

Set in a world of talking animals who live in a farmyard with no humans in evidence, the focus in on Chauntecleer, the arrogant rooster who sees himself as the ruler not only of his coop of hens but every other creature who comes into the farmyard. Initially shows as selfish, self-important, and regimented, Wangerin slowly expands to show that Chauntecleer is more than he initially seems, partly by depicting his actions and partly by showing the activities of another rooster in a similar situation, Senex.

Senex is an aging rooster who is trying to remain relevant in his own farmyard, especially since he is lacking any heirs to take over for him. A piteous figure, he begins to hear a voice that promises him everything he could desire. Not understanding the voice belongs to Wyrm, a world-encircling serpent who represents Satan in this world. His resulting offspring, Cockatrice, a hybrid of rooster and serpent, destroys everything Senex has worked for and eventually threatens Chauntecleer’s lands.

As Chauntecleer becomes aware of the peril to his farmyard, he begins to demonstrate that he cares for the animals who he views as his subjects. Similarly, as he orders the defense against the onslaught from Cockatrice and his army of basilisks, the novel’s religious allegory continues, with the Wild Turkeys representing those who are offered the chance of salvation, but turn their backs on it even in the face of the Satanic forces, although there is nothing seductive about Cockatrice’s movements.

Wangerin demonstrates an understanding of the Medieval mind in The Book of the Dun Cow, showing Cockatrice as a tyrant who has turned his back on God’s Grace. While Chauntecleer does not seem the epitome of a wise or just ruler to modern sensibilities, he does show the qualities that people looked for in their monarch during the Medieval period, demonstrating a holiness and a care for his subjects even as he understands and cherishes his place above and apart from them.

. The Book of the Dun Cow belongs to the same genre of fantasy fiction as Watership Down, by Richard Adams, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and the Redwall novels, by Brian Jacques. Although the lack of any humans leaves gaping holes in the logic of Wangerin’s world of barnyard animals, his characters, take on a humanity, although many of them, such as the dog Mundo Cani or Ebenezer Rat, are two dimensional. In fact, only Chauntecleer is really allowed to demonstrate a wide range of characteristics as the ruler and potential savior in the face of the attacks by Cockatrice and Wyrm.

Although the religious allegory is woven into the very essence of the novel, which couldn’t exist without it, Wangerin does so in such a manner that it isn’t in the reader’s face. It even takes a backseat, at times, to the discussion of tyranny and the necessity of taking a stand, both philosophically and militarily against tyranny, showing the impact it can have at Senex’s barnyard, on those who refuse to acknowledge it, and those who strive to fight against it despite the odds.

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