One beautiful, sunny day, the fox went out, who had not eaten for a long time to look for food for himself, for he had not succeeded in catching any prey in that forest. He was afflicted by fatigue and exhaustion from frequent hunger, so he decided to go to the village to hunt chickens from there.
During his walk for a piece of brown meat, he hurried toward it and felt that his luck was good, for he had found food before reaching the village. The fox ran toward what he saw, but it was not a piece of brown meat, rather it was brown shoes that the fox had mistaken for a piece of meat from afar.
So due to the fox’s hunger, everything he saw appeared to him as delicious food. The fox completed the remaining of his path toward the village. He was dreaming of catching chickens, and as soon as he arrived, he heard the sound of a chicken in the vicinity. He walked carefully and went to look for the chicken until he saw it.
The fox began to circle around it to attack, and the fox hid among the bushes and jumped toward the chicken, but she hurried to escape. He ran toward her, but while the fox was running behind the chicken, he did not notice the presence of a deep well and fell inside it. The chicken looked at him and said to him, “It appears that you have fallen into the consequences of your deeds, oh fox.”
The fox was feeling annoyed because he had not managed to eat food, and also because he had fallen into a deep well. The fox tried to get out of his place, but the well was deep. The fox was unable to get out of it, so he felt he was in a big trouble, especially after the chicken refused to help him get out. The fox tried to use wiles and seek help, and kept screaming loudly asking for assistance.
There was a rabbit running near the well and heard the sound of calling for help from inside the well, so he approached him. The rabbit advanced toward the well and saw the fox. The rabbit asked and said to him, “What are you doing in a place like this, oh fox?” The fox answered, “I was drinking some water from the well.” The rabbit said, “Oh you greedy fox. You came to the well to drink all the water in it.” The fox said, “No. I will give you some of the water. You came down to drink with me. The water in this well is good. So bring a rope and tie it to the trunk of a tree, then come down.”
While the rabbit was walking, he remembered the fox’s cunning words. How could water have a good taste when all water is without taste? He knew the fox was deceiving him and that he had fallen perhaps because he was running toward a prey from the village. He left him and did not care about his matter.
The fox continued to ask for help and scream, so he was heard by a hunter. He was carrying his rifle loaded toward the village after a hunting trip in the forest. As soon as he looked, he saw a hunter, so he hid in the well’s water for fear of the hunter. The hunter thought that it was a bird, and left and did not care about the matter either.
Evening came and the fox felt sleepy, so he slept in the well, and the water covered half his body. He was dreaming of someone rescuing him to get him out of the well. In the morning of the next day, a group of sheep approached to drink from the well.
One of the sheep asked the fox first, “What are you doing, oh fox, in that well?” The fox answered in depression, “I came to the well to bathe, for the water is good and gentle.” The sheep, who had jumped inside the well, said, “I will bathe with you too.”
The sheep stood enjoying himself with the cold water inside that well. Suddenly, he stood on the water and asked the fox, “Is the water truly good and gentle? But how will we get out of this well?” The fox said, “You stand first, and I will support you with my horns to climb to the well, and when I reach above, I will extend my hand to you and pull you up.”
The sheep stood, and the cunning fox tricked the sheep’s horns until he climbed and got out of the well. When he asked the sheep to extend his hand to get him out, he too laughed at the fox and ran, leaving the sheep who had helped him get out.
The moral of the story: That the child learns to help others and not to use deception or resort to lying for salvation from whatever predicament he is in.