to fear for his life.
When the celebrations were over, a meeting was convened in the Village Hall to decide what they were going to do with 'Sleezy the Fox'. Every villager, farmer, man, woman and child was present at this meeting. As the Mayor of the village called the meeting to order, Sleezy's iron-barred cage was placed at the front of the hall. The Mayor of the village pointed to the caged prisoner and asked those assembled, "What shall we do with 'Sleezy the Fox'?"
"Run him round and round the Village Square until his legs won't run one step farther, like he did to one of my sheep," suggested one bitter farmer, "and when his puff is exhausted, set the dogs on him and let them finish him off!"
"Kill the chicken thief! Gun him down for the vermin he is!" yelled one farmer.
"Shooting's far too good for him!" cried out another villager.
"Boil him alive in a pot! Cut him up, make a pot of fox stew and feed him to the dogs!" screamed another. "Make him suffer before he dies!"
"Slit his throat and hack off his legs," yelled Gilbert Grim. "That's what I'd have done if I'd caught him near my chickens!"
"Hark at the fat farmer!" a voice from the back of the Village Hall laughingly yelled. "By the look of your size, Gilbert, you've eaten more chickens than ten foxes could gobble in any lifetime!"
Gilbert Grim shrank in embarrassment at the jibe to his overweight condition. He angrily yelled back to the anonymous heckler, "Who said that? Identify yourself, if you dare, and I'll hack your legs off also!"
"Order! Order! commanded the Mayor. "We're here to discuss the fate of the fox, not the eating habits of Gilbert Grim."
One by one, all the villagers and farmers had their say. As each one spoke about which way they ought to kill the fox, Sleezy began to wish that he'd never set eyes upon a feathered chicken. Sleezy hung his head low in shame as the angry farmers began to inform the Mayor of how many innocent chickens he'd stolen and how many sheep he'd killed over the years. Farmer Hans looked across at the caged fox and he saw a teardrop fall from Sleezy's eye. The fox's face was filled with fear and the voices of the angry farmers were filled with hatred and vengeance.
As Farmer Hans watched on, he became greatly disturbed by the anger of his neighbours. He'd never before witnessed so much anger housed beneath one roof. The gentle farmer, who'd been initially overjoyed at capturing the fox, now began to feel compassion for the fox he'd so cleverly caught. The more he looked at Sleezy and the more he heard his neighbours talk about the different ways of killing him; the more Farmer Hans knew that the fox did not deserve to die.
When everyone had spoken, the Mayor, realising that Farmer Hans hadn't yet said anything, called the meeting to order and said, "Be quiet everyone and let us hear what Farmer Hans has to say. After all, he was the one who caught the fox and the only one among us clever enough to do so. I'm happy to let Farmer Hans decide the precise manner of the fox's fate. What say you?"
"Aye! Let Farmer Hans decide what's to be done with the chicken thief and sheep killer!" the assembled crowd replied.
Farmer Hans came to the front of the Village Hall and stood upon a large, wooden barrel, so that everyone could hear him. The assembled villagers fell silent as they waited for Farmer Hans to speak.
"It seems to me," said the gentle farmer, "that human beings ought to be wiser and more humane than foxes. It is not our true nature to behave like savages."
"What do you mean?" snarled Gilbert Grim. "I'll break the neck of any man who dares to call me savage! The fox killed four of my best chickens, so why shouldn't he die?"
Farmer Hans continued, "It seems to me that the fox only did what any wild fox would do when he got hungry. Killing chickens for a wild fox is only natural. Why, it's as natural as a starving human stealing a turnip from a farmer's field."
"A thief's a thief!" snarled Gilbert Grim. "If you thieve chickens, you'll just as soon thieve turnips also!"
"The fox has never been taught to do anything else. But it's unnatural for human beings to kill in anger or revenge," said Farmer Hans. "Haven't we been taught better than this wild fox? Don't we know better?"
"The fox is a thief and deserves to die!" cried out Gilbert Grim viciously from the back of the hall. "He's a thief and we're not. That's what makes him a beast of the field and the rest of us human!"
"But, what shall we do with the fox if we don't kill him?" asked one villager.
"If we let him go free, he will only continue to kill more of our chickens and sheep," another villager said.
"I shall teach him not to kill chickens or sheep," said Farmer Hans confidently to the assembled crowd.
"But you can't teach a fox not to kill chickens," laughed another farmer.
"I remember how you once laughed at me before," Farmer Hans said, "when I told you that I would catch the fox, and again, when I moved the chicken coop away from the farmhouse and into the middle of the field where the sheep grazed. You all laughed at me then," Farmer Hans reminded them.
The other farmer stopped laughing, thought a while and then said, "You're right, Farmer Hans. Perhaps a man like you, who was clever enough to catch this fox that'd managed to outsmart all the rest of us for a number of years, is also clever enough to teach the fox not to kill chickens?"
So the life of Sleezy was spared. Farmer Hans unlocked the cage and took Sleezy back home to live on his farm. He also gave Sleezy the job of collecting the eggs from the chicken coop and guarding his flock of sheep.
Farmer Hans had, over the years, become an astute observer of animal behaviour and human instinct. He'd learned long ago that the best way to change bad or unacceptable behaviour was through love and kindness, not hatred and fear! Farmer Hans realised that each creature, which lives in our world, whether animal or human, has the capacity to change their behaviour for the better; providing others give them ample opportunity to do so! Farmer Hans also knew that change isn't always easy to bring about or cope with, and that, for some of us, we may need to receive the benefit of second chances many times before we get it right. And even when we get it right and have managed to change our bad behaviour, it's still important that others around us recognise that change has taken place and give us credit for it!
Sleezy became the only 'Sheep Fox' in the whole of Transylvania, and each day when his work was done, he'd be given a nice, warm vegetarian meal in the barn where he slept. Often, before he went to sleep, Sleezy would remember his life as a wild fox and he would think of how close he came to being killed. He felt very fortunate to have been given a 'second chance.'
Living with the kind and gentle farmer over the years, naturally led to Sleezy becoming kinder and gentler. As time went by, 'Sleezy the Sheep Fox' grew to love his master and the flock of sheep he protected daily. Even the chickens grew to trust the fox, which would politely knock on the door of the coop each morning before entering to collect their eggs in a basket. If ever you go to Transylvania and happen to see a fox chasing sheep around a field and going into a chicken coop with a basket in his mouth, don't shoot him, because it might be Sleezy; the cleverest fox in the whole wide world!
I'm glad that Sleezy was given a 'second chance.' Aren't you?
(To be continued)
?William Forde, December 2011.
Author's Background
William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. He is the father of five children and the author of 28 published books and a musical play.
He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children find most difficult to appropriately express.
One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, his books have been publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, W
illiam and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. Former Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted, Chris Woodhead described his writings to the press as 'high quality literature.'
Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, he founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.
He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 30 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 30 primary schools in Yorkshire.
William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his