THE GREEDY RED FOX
The Red Fox had been well brought up. His mother was a most cautiousperson and devoted to her children. When he did things which were wrong,he could never excuse himself by saying that he did not know better. Ofcourse it is possible that he was like his father in being so reckless,yet none of his two brothers and three sisters were like him. They didnot remember their father. In fact, they had never seen him, and theirmother seldom spoke of him.
His mother had taken all the care of her six children, even pulling furfrom her own belly to make a soft nest covering for them when they werefirst born. They were such helpless babies. Their eyes and ears wereclosed for some time, and all they could do was to tumble each otheraround and drink the warm milk that their mother had for them.
They had three burrows to live in, all of them in an open field betweenthe forest and the farmhouse. Sometimes they lived in the first,sometimes in the second, and sometimes in the third. One night whentheir mother went out to hunt, she smelled along the ground near theburrow and then came back. "There has been a man near here," she said,"and I shall take you away."
That excited the little Foxes very much, and each wanted to be the firstto go, but she hushed them up, and said that if they talked so loudly asthat some man might catch them before they moved, and then--. She saidnothing more, yet they knew from the way she moved her tail that itwould be dreadful to have a man catch them.
While she was carrying them to another burrow one at a time, those whowere left behind talked about men. "I wish I knew why men are sodreadful," said the first. "It must be because they have very big mouthsand sharp teeth."
"I wonder what color their fur is," said another.
Now these young Foxes had seen nobody but their mother. If she had nottold them that different animals wore different colored furs, they wouldhave thought that everybody looked just like her, with longreddish-yellow fur and that on the hinder part of the back quitegrizzled; throat, belly, and the tip of the tail white, and the outsideof the ears black. They were very sure, however, that no other animalhad such a wonderful tail as she, with each of its long, reddish hairstipped with black and the beautiful brush of pure white at the end. Infact, she had told them so.
The next time their mother came back, the four children who were stillthere cried out, "Please tell us, what color is a man's fur?"
She was a sensible and prudent Fox, and knew it was much more importantto keep her children from being caught than it was to answer all theirquestions at once. Besides, she already had one child in her mouth whenthey finished their question, and she would not put him down for thesake of talking. And that also was right, you know, for one can talk atany time, but the time to do work is just when it needs to be done.
After they were snugly settled in the other burrow, she lay down to feedthem, and while they were drinking their milk she told them about men."Men," she said, "are the most dreadful animals there are. Other animalswill not trouble you unless they are hungry, but a man will chase youeven when his stomach is full. They have four legs, of course,--allanimals have,--but they use only two to walk upon. Their front legs theyuse for carrying things. We carry with our mouths, yet the only thing Iever saw a man have in his mouth was a short brown stick that was afireat one end. I thought it very silly, for he couldn't help breathing someof the smoke, and he let the stick burn up and then threw the fire away.However, men are exceedingly silly animals."
One of the little Red Foxes stopped drinking long enough to say, "Youdidn't tell us what color their fur is."
"The only fur they have," said Mother Fox, "is on their heads. Theyusually have fur on the top and back parts of their heads, and some ofthem have a little on the lower part of their faces. They may haveblack, red, brown, gray, or white fur. It is never spotted."
The children would have liked to ask more questions, but Mother Fox hadeaten nothing since the night before, and was in a hurry to begin herhunt.
One could never tell all that happened to the little Red Foxes. Theymoved from burrow to burrow many times; they learned to eat meat whichtheir mother brought them instead of drinking milk from her body, theyfrolicked together near the doorway of their home, and while they didthis their mother watched from the edge of the forest, ready to warnthem if she saw men or dogs coming.
She had chosen to dig her burrows in the middle of a field, because thenthere was no chance for men or Dogs to sneak up to them unseen, as therewould have been in the forest, yet she feared that her children would beplaying so hard that they might forget to watch. They slept most of theday, and at night they were always awake. When they were old enough,they began to hunt for themselves. Mother Fox gave them a great deal ofgood advice and then paid no more attention to them. After that, shetook her naps on a sunny hillside, lying in a beautiful softreddish-yellow bunch, with her bushy tail curled around to keep her feetwarm and shade her eyes from the light.
The six brothers and sisters seldom saw each other after this. Foxessucceed better in life if they live alone, and of course they wanted tosucceed. The eldest brother was the reckless one. His mother had doneher best by him, and still he was reckless. He knew by heart all therules that she had taught him, but he did not keep them. These were therules:
"Always run on hard, dry things when you can. Soft, wet places take morescent from your feet, and Dogs can follow your trail better on them.
"Never go into any place unless you are sure you can get out.
"Keep your tail dry. A Fox with a wet tail cannot run well.
"If Dogs are chasing you, jump on to a rail fence and run along the topof it or walk in a brook.
"Always be willing to work for your food. That which you find all readyand waiting for you may be the bait of a trap.
"Always walk when you are hunting. The Fox who trots will pass by thatwhich he should find."
For a while he said them over to himself every night when he startedout. Then he began to skip a night once in a while. Next he got tosaying them only when he had been frightened the day before. After thathe stopped saying them altogether. "I am a full-grown Fox now," he saidto himself, "and such things are only good for children. I guess I knowhow to take care of myself."
He often went toward the farmhouse to hunt, sometimes for grapes,sometimes for vegetables, and sometimes for heartier food. Collie hadchased him away, but Collie was growing old and fat and had to hang histongue out when he ran, so the Red Fox thought it only fun. He trottedalong in the moonlight, his light, slender body seeming to almost floatover the ground, and his beautiful tail held straight out behind. Hisshort, slender legs were strong and did not tire easily, and as long ashe could keep his tall dry he outran Collie easily. Sometimes he wouldget far ahead and sit down to wait for him. Then he would call out saucythings to the panting Dog, and only start on when Collie's nose hadalmost touched him.
"Fine evening!" he once said. "Hope your nose works better than yourlegs do."
That was a mean thing to say, you know, but Collie always keeps histemper and only answered, "It's sweating finely, thank you." He answeredthat way because it is the sweat on a Dog's nose which makes it possiblefor him to smell and follow scents which dry-nosed people do not evenknow about.
Then the Fox gave a long, light leap, and was off again, and Collie hadto lie down to breathe. "I think," said he, "that I can tend Sheepbetter than I can chase Foxes--and it is a good deal easier." Still,Collie didn't like to be beaten and he lay awake the rest of the nightthinking how he would enjoy catching that Fox. Every little while heheard the Red Fox barking off in the fields, and it made him twitch histail with impatience.
Now the Red Fox was walking carefully toward the farmhouse and planningto catch a Turkey. He had watched the flocks of Turkeys all afternoonfrom his sleeping-place on the hillside. Every time he opened his eyesbetween naps he had looked at them as they walked to and fro in thefields, talking to each other in their gentle, complaining voices andmoving their heads back and forth at every step. If his st
omach had notbeen so full he would have tried to catch one then. He made up his mindto try it that night, and decided that he would rather have the plump,light-colored one than any of her darker sisters. He did not even thinkof catching the old Gobbler, for he was so big and strong andfierce-looking. He had just begun to walk with the Turkey mothers andchildren. During the summer they had had nothing to do with each other.
When the Red Fox reached the farmyard, he found them roosting on the lowbranches of an apple-tree. A long board had been placed against it tolet the Chickens walk up. Now the Chickens were in the Hen-house, butthe board was still there. The Red Fox looked all around. It was astarlight night. The farmhouse was dark and quiet. Collie was nowhere tobe seen. Once he heard a Horse stamp in his sleep. Then all was stillagain.
The Red Fox walked softly up the slanting board. The Gobbler stirred.The Red Fox stopped with one foot in the air. When he thought him fastasleep he went on. The Gobbler stirred again and so did the others. TheRed Fox sprang for the plump, light-colored one. She jumped also, andwith the others flew far up to the top of the barn. The Red Fox ran downthe board with five buff tail-feathers in his mouth. He was much out ofpatience with himself. "If I hadn't stopped to pick for her," he said,"I could have caught one of the others easily enough."
He sneaked around in the shadows to see if the noise made by the turkeyshad awakened the farmer or Collie. The farmhouse was still and dark.Collie was not at home. "I will look at the Hen-house," said the RedFox.
He walked slowly and carefully to the Hen-house. The big door was closedand bolted. He walked all around and into the poultry yard. There was asmall opening through which the fowls could pass in and out. The Red Foxmanaged to crawl though, but it was not easy. It squeezed his body andcrushed his fur. He had to push very hard with his hind feet to getthrough at all. When he was inside it took him some time to get hisbreath. "That's the tightest place I ever was in," said he softly, "butI always could crawl through a very small hole."
He found the fowls all roosting too high for him. Perhaps if theHen-house had been larger, he might have leaped and caught one, butthere was not room for one of his finest springs. He went to the nestsand found many eggs there. These he broke and ate. They ran down inyellow streams from the corners of his mouth and made his long fur verysticky. You can just imagine how hard it would be to eat raw eggs fromthe shell with only your paws in which to hold them.
One egg was light and slippery. He bit hard to break that one, and whenit broke it was hollow. Not a drop of anything to eat in it, and then itcut his lip a little, too, so that he could not eat more without itshurting. He jumped and said something when he was cut. The ShanghaiCock, who was awakened by the noise, said that he exclaimed, "Bramblesand traps!" but it may not have been anything so bad as that. We willhope it was not.
The Shanghai Cock awakened all the other fowls. "Don't fly off yourperch!" he cried. "Stay where you are! _Stay where where you are!_ STAYWHERE YOU ARE!" The other Cocks kept saying "Eru-u-u-u," as they do whenHawks are near. The Hens squawked and squawked and squawked, until theywere out of breath. When they got their breath they squawked some more.
The Red Fox knew that it was time for him to go. The farmer would besure to hear the noise. He put his head out of the hole through which hehad come in, and he pushed as hard as he could with his hind feet andscrambled with his fore feet. His fur was crushed worse than ever, andhe was squeezed so tightly that he could hardly breathe. You see it hadbeen all he could do to get in through the hole, and now he had nineeggs in his stomach (excepting what had run down at the corners of hismouth), and he was too large to pass through.
The fowls saw what was the matter, and wanted to laugh. They thought itvery funny, and yet the sooner he could get away the better they wouldlike it. The Red Fox had his head outside and saw a light flash in thefarmer's room. Then he heard doors open, and the farmer came toward theHen-house with a lantern in his hand. Collie came trotting around thecorner of the house. The Red Fox made one last desperate struggle andthen lay still.
When the farmer picked him up and tied a rope around his neck, he had topull him backward into the Hen-house to do it. The Red Fox was veryquiet and gentle, as people of his family always are when caught. Colliepranced around on two legs and barked as loudly as he could. The fowlsblinked their round yellow eyes in the lantern light, and the farmer'sman ran out for an empty Chicken-coop into which to put the Red Fox.Collie was usually quite polite, but he had not forgotten how rude theRed Fox had been to him, and it was a fine chance to get even.
"Good evening!" he barked. "Oh, good evening! I'm glad you came. Don'tthink you must be going. Excuse me, but your mouth worked better thanyour legs, didn't it?"
The Red Fox shut his eyes and pretended not to hear. The dirt from thefloor of the Hen-house had stuck to his egg-covered fur, and he lookedvery badly. They put him in a Chicken-coop with a board floor, so thathe couldn't burrow out, and he curled down in a little heap and hid hisface with his tail. Collie hung around for a while and then went off tosleep. After he was gone, the Red Fox cleaned his fur. "I got caughtthis time," he said, "but it won't happen again. Now I must watch for achance to get away. It will surely come."
It did come. But that is another story.