Budulinek and the Cunning Fox

Budulinek and the Cunning Fox

Budulinek lived with his grandmother in a small cottage beside the forest.

Every morning Grandmother went to work in the next village. Before leaving, she put lunch on the table and said, “Budulinek, your food is ready. And remember: while I am away, do not open the door to strangers.”

“I won’t, Grandmother,” the boy promised.

One day she left him a bowl of fragrant soup.

Hardly had she disappeared around the bend when someone knocked.

Tap-tap-tap.

“Who is there?” Budulinek asked.

“It’s me, Lishka!” called a cheerful voice. “The fox from the forest. Please open the door!”

“Grandmother told me not to open it.”

“But what if I give you a ride on my fluffy tail?” Lishka asked sweetly. “Imagine it—whoosh! Around the table, around the stove, faster and faster!”

Budulinek thought about it. “Just once,” he whispered to himself.

He opened the door.

Lishka slipped inside.

“Well? Will you give me a ride?” Budulinek asked.

“Of course, of course. But first—what wonderful soup!”

The fox sprang to the table and in a moment ate every drop from the bowl.

“And now I must be off!” she said, and darted out through the door.

“But my ride!” cried Budulinek.

Lishka was already running toward the forest.

That evening Grandmother saw the empty bowl and Budulinek’s sad face.

“Did you open the door?”

The boy admitted it.

“She promised to give me a ride on her tail.”

“Promises from strangers are not always honest,” Grandmother said. “Tomorrow, try to remember that.”

The next day, porridge waited on the table.

Again came:

Tap-tap-tap.

“Budulinek! It’s me, Lishka!”

“No, I won’t open the door.”

“Yesterday I was terribly rushed. Today I will certainly give you a ride on my tail. Truly, truly!”

Budulinek bit his lip. He wanted that ride very much.

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as can be!”

The door opened a crack. Lishka rushed in, ate the porridge, and ran away again.

That evening Grandmother only shook her head.

“If someone has broken a promise twice, a third promise does not become more trustworthy just because it is said more prettily.”

Budulinek nodded.

On the third day Grandmother left him a pot of peas. Budulinek decided to eat his lunch early so Lishka could not steal it.

But she knocked again.

“Budulinek! Open up!”

“I won’t!”

“Today I do not even want to eat. I only want to give you a ride on my tail. You have dreamed of it for so long!”

Budulinek took his bowl and sat by the window.

“I don’t believe you.”

When Lishka saw the peas, she sighed and gasped. “How lovely! I only want to smell them. Just one little minute!”

She begged and begged.

At last Budulinek gave in once more.

The instant the door opened, Lishka pushed her nose into the bowl and finished the peas.

“You tricked me again!” Budulinek cried.

“All right,” said Lishka. “This time I really will give you a ride.”

She fluffed out her big tail.

Budulinek sat on it.

At first they whirled around the room.

Whoosh!

Around the table.

Whoosh!

Around the stove.

Budulinek laughed.

But suddenly Lishka leaped out of the door.

“Stop! Where are we going?”

“On a real outing!”

She raced down the forest path and carried the boy to her den. Three little fox cubs lived there.

“Look whom I have brought!” said Lishka.

The cubs were delighted with their new companion. They wanted to play without end: running through tunnels, making heaps of leaves, hiding acorns, and finding them again.

At first Budulinek found it interesting. But when dusk began to fall, he said, “It is time for me to go back to Grandmother.”

“You can go tomorrow,” Lishka replied.

The next day, she would not let him leave either.

Then Budulinek understood: the merry outing had turned into a trap.

At home Grandmother returned and found the door open.

“Budulinek!”

She searched by the well, in the garden, and along the path. She asked the neighbors, but no one had seen the boy.

A few days later, a travelling musician with a little barrel organ came to the cottage. He played a cheerful tune, but Grandmother began to cry.

“Why does music make you sad?” he asked.

Grandmother told him about Budulinek and Lishka.

“I walk through the forest often,” said the musician. “I will listen carefully.”

And he went on his way.

On the third day, as he passed between the pine trees, the musician heard a quiet voice from under the ground.

“Grandmother…”

Nearby was a fox den.

The musician set down his barrel organ and began to play.

Tra-la-la! Tiddly-lee!

The fox cubs poked out their noses.

“Mother, there is music!”

Lishka grew curious too.

The musician kept playing and slowly walked away from the den. The cubs ran after him. Lishka followed, because she did not want to leave the little ones alone.

Then Budulinek crawled out through the second entrance.

“This way,” the musician called softly.

The boy ran to him.

Lishka turned around and realized that she had been outwitted.

“But he sat on my tail himself!” she protested.

“Yes,” said the musician. “But when a person says that he wants to go home, you must let him go.”

Lishka lowered her ears.

“That is true.”

“And stealing someone else’s lunch is not nice either,” Budulinek added.

“That is true too,” sighed Lishka.

She promised never again to lure the boy away or take food that was not hers.

The musician brought Budulinek home.

Grandmother was so happy that she could hardly let him out of her arms.

“I knew the rule three times and broke it three times,” the boy said sadly.

“What matters is not how many times you made a mistake,” Grandmother answered. “What matters is whether you have learned to take better care of yourself afterward.”

The next morning there was another knock at the door.

“Who is there?” Budulinek asked.

“Lishka. I brought a basket of mushrooms for your grandmother. May I leave it by the doorstep?”

Budulinek smiled. “Leave it there. When Grandmother comes back, we will take it inside together.”

“All right,” said Lishka.

And this time no one deceived anyone.

From then on Budulinek knew that an exciting offer can wait. Safety matters more than a moment of fun, and a real friend never asks you to break a rule that keeps you safe.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨