Carataca and Damanaca: two 19th century indian foxes

A version of the "Panchatantra" published in press

Abstract

Although the presence of oriental folktales in spanish literature diminishes at the end of the Middle Ages, we have found a testimony of its vitality at the end of the 19th century: a version of the Panchatantra published in Instrucción para la mujer (1882-1883) and based on a French translation by Jean-Antoine Dubois (1826). In this work we carry out an analysis of its framework story and its fables, comparing them with the French text, with the translation of Alemany Bolufer's Panchatantra and with other versions of these tales. We devote special attention to the study of its protagonists, the foxes, which throughout our literary history have replaced the Indian jackals, and we adduce the origins and some of the reasons for this change.