Just as Noble is about to dismiss the case as non-proven, Henning the Cock appears, followed by his sons, who bear on a litter the mangled remains of a hen, strangled by Reynard, who slipped into the chicken-yard in the guise of a monk.

The king immediately dispatches Brown the Bear to Malepartus to summon Reynard to appear at court.  On arriving at his destination, the Bear, although still resenting the king’s recommendations to be wary, allows himself to be led to a half-split tree-trunk, within which Reynard assures him he will find stores of honey to refresh himself.  Just as soon as the Bear’s nose and forepaws are greedily inserted into the crack, Reynard slyly removes the wedges and decamps, leaving the Bear a prisoner and howling with pain.

His roars soon attract the peasant and his son, who beat the captive until he wrenches himself loose, at the cost of some patches of skin and of a few claws.  The Bear, returning to court in this plight, is taxed with stupidity and greed, and Hintze the Cat is sent to summon Reynard to court.  The Cat, hungry also, is led to a small opening in a barn which Reynard declares is swarming with mice, but where the poor Tomcat is caught in a trap, whence he escapes only after having received a beating and lost one eye.

His woful report decides the king to send Grimbart the Badger to summon his nephew to court.  Reynard receives this emissary most courteously, and, on hearing the king will raze his fortress if he does not obey, sets out for court.  On the way Reynard begs Grimbart to act as his confessor, and, having unburdened his conscience, does penance and receives absolution.  But scarcely has this ceremony been completed when Reynard, spying some fat hens, begins to chase them, and is only with difficulty recalled to a sense of what is fitting.

On arriving at court, Reynard hypocritically regrets so many people have slandered him to the king, and tries to refute every charge.  He is, however, sentenced to the gallows, but even on the road thither devises a plan to escape.  Pretending regret for his past, he humbly begs the king’s permission to address the spectators, and in a lengthy speech describes how he was led astray in his youth by Isegrim the Wolf.  He also declares his only regret is to die before he can reveal to the king the hiding-place of a vast treasure which would enable him to outwit the plots of some rebels who are even now conspiring to kill him.  The king, hearing this, immediately orders a reprieve, and, questioning the Fox in secret, learns that the conspirators are Brown the Bear, Isegrim the Wolf, and others.  To reward the Fox for saving her husband’s life, the queen now obtains his pardon, which Noble grants in exchange for information in regard to the treasure.