There was a smart sheep standing at the edge of the river, waiting for its owner, when it was surprised by the fox grabbing it and saying: “Finally, you have fallen into my hands, oh sheep. I will eat you immediately and leave nothing of you.” The sheep thought of a trick that would save it from the fox and save it from the death that had become imminent. It imagined itself and the fox devouring it, and its body shuddered.
So it said to the fox: “Oh fox, if you let me drink some water to moisten my flesh, you will enjoy it more, for the water that God created and from which He made every living thing will make the taste of my flesh more delicious and tender to your fangs. It will also make it tastier and easier to digest.”
“Oh fox! The water will make my flesh have a beautiful taste. Come and see for yourself the difference before and after the water.” The fox said: “Are you saying that your flesh has some bitterness now?” The sheep picked up on the word and said immediately: “Not only bitterness, but it has much bitterness, and nothing will remove it except the water that God created and in which is the life of souls. If you, oh fox, do not believe me, taste my flesh before the water if you like bitterness. But I know that you like beautiful meat.”
The fox said to himself, promising himself delicious food: “I will eat this sheep without fail, for he is now under my hand. There is no harm in him drinking from the river, for water is nourishing and beneficial for all living beings. Come, drink now from the river as you wish.” The sheep approached and drank some water from the river, thinking of a new trick that would keep the fox away from him. The idea of washing his wool came to him.
The fox waited until the sheep drank from the river, then approached him and was about to attack him. But the sheep said to him: “Wait, do not approach me now. If you let me wash my wool with water, your appetite will certainly increase, and you will eat until you are full, and no harm will befall you, for cleanliness kills the microbes and fungi that have attached to my wool.”
The fox smiled, saying to himself: “This sheep is an opportunity, and he is clean. There is no harm, for I am not hungry now.” Then he said to the sheep: “Well, wash your wool well and come to me so that I can eat you quietly without causing you pain.” When the sheep finished washing his wool, the fox said, pleased with the sight of the clean sheep: “Now your flesh is pleasing to me.”
But the smart sheep asked him this time: “Oh fox, from which part of me will you start eating?” The fox said: “I prefer to start with your feet.” The sheep said: “But do you allow me one last request?” The fox said: “You are annoying, oh sheep, and very demanding. What do you want this time, if this is your last request?” The sheep said: “I want you to look at my hind feet and see whether they are clean or not before you start eating me?”
The fox said: “This sheep is truly clean, go ahead.” Then he turned to look down at the sheep’s feet. The sheep kicked him forcefully, and the fox rolled and fell into the river, shouting and screaming: “Woe to you, oh sheep, woe to you!”
The sheep looked at him in the water and said to him: “How foolish you are, oh fox!” He hastened to run, happy to have been saved from the fox, until he reached the house. Wisdom says: “If we fall into a dangerous situation that may cost us our lives, we must be patient and act wisely until we are saved from this danger.”