| This story about a fox and a wolf, might be better called "The vixen and the wolf" because the fox is very feminine, while the wolf is definitely a he-wolf. Both are very hungry, and the wolf is set on eating the fox. This story by Antonio de Trueba (1821-1889) is set in his native Basque country in Northern Spain. The English translation is from the Orange Fairy Book of Andrew Lang. Read by Natasha. Duration 18.27. \'I positively must get a good meal before I go back to my den,\' he said to himself; \'it is nearly a week since I have tasted anything but scraps, though perhaps no one would think it to look at my figure! Of course there are plenty of rabbits and hares in the mountains; but indeed one needs to be a greyhound to catch them, and I am not so young as I was! If I could only dine off that fox I saw a fortnight ago, curled up into a delicious hairy ball, I should ask nothing better; I would have eaten her then, but unluckily her husband was lying beside her, and one knows that foxes, great and small, run like the wind. Really it seems as if there was not a living creature left for me to prey upon but a wolf, and, as the proverb says: "One wolf does not bite another." However, let us see what this village can produce. I am as hungry as a schoolmaster.\'', "'The whole of this day I have listened to those village hens clucking till I could bear it no longer,' murmured she as she bounded along, hardly seeming to touch the ground. 'When you are fond of fowls and eggs it is the sweetest of all music. As sure as there is a sun in heaven I will have some of them this night, for I have grown so thin that my very bones rattle, and my poor babies are crying for food.' And as she spoke she reached a little plot of grass, where the two roads joined, and flung herself under a tree to take a little rest, and to settle her plans. At this moment the wolf came up.", "'Is that you, neighbour? What a strange place to meet in! I hope you are quite well?'", '\'He is. Still, you are good enough for me; for "to the hungry no bread is hard."\'', "'Oh, you are always joking! I'm sure you are not half as hungry as I!'", "'What are you doing?' exclaimed the fox, stepping backwards.", "'What am I doing? What I am going to do is to make my supper off you, in less time than a cock takes to crow.'", "'I don't want to joke, but to eat!'", "'In this world the cleverest people are always the hungriest,' replied the wolf.", "'Ah! how true that is; but--'", '\'I can\'t stop to listen to your "buts" and "yets,"\' broke in the wolf rudely; \'let us get to the point, and the point is that I want to eat you and not talk to you.\'', "'Have you no pity for a poor mother?' asked the fox, putting her tail to her eyes, but peeping slily out of them all the same.", "'I am dying of hunger,' answered the wolf, doggedly; 'and you know,' he added with a grin, 'that charity begins at home.'", "'Quite so,' replied the fox; 'it would be unreasonable of me to object to your satisfying your appetite at my expense. But if the fox resigns herself to the sacrifice, the mother offers you one last request.'", "'Then be quick and don't waste my time, for I can't wait much longer. What is it you want?'", "'But the cheeses may be all finished by now?'", 'All was silent in the village, and not a light was to be seen but that of the moon, which shone bright and clear in the sky. The wolf and the fox crept softly along, when suddenly they stopped and looked at each other; a savoury smell of frying bacon reached their noses, and reached the noses of the sleeping dogs, who began to bark greedily.', "'Is it safe to go on, think you?' asked the wolf in a whisper. And the fox shook her head.", "'Not while the dogs are barking,' said she; 'someone might come out to see if anything was the matter.' And she signed to the wolf to curl himself up in the shadow beside her.", "'I am lighter than he is,' thought the fox to herself, 'and perhaps if I make haste I can get a start, and jump over the wall on the other side before he manages to spring over this one.' And she quickened her pace. But if the wolf could not run he could jump, and with one bound he was beside his companion.", "'What were you going to do, comrade?'", "'Oh, nothing,' replied the fox, much vexed at the failure of her plan.", "'And now, unbeliever, what have you to say?' and the fox laughed gently.", "'That you are a woman--I mean a fox--of your word,' replied the wolf.", "'Well, then, go down in that bucket and eat your fill,' said the fox.", "'And be sure you don't eat all the cheese, or it will be the worse for you,' continued the wolf. But the fox looked up at him with tears in her eyes.", "'Then be quick and bring it up,' commanded the wolf.", "'How can I, when it weighs more than I do?' asked the fox.", "'If it is so heavy bring it in two bits, of course,' said he.", "'But I have no knife,' answered the fox. 'You will have to come down yourself, and we will carry it up between us.'", "'And how am I to come down?' inquired the wolf.", "'The cheese?' answered the fox; 'why I am taking it home to my babies, who are too young to get food for themselves.'", '[From Cuentos Populares, por Antonio de Trueba.] |