The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox

The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox

Once a cat and a rooster lived together. Their cottage was small, but warm and cosy. The rooster looked after the home. He swept the floor, sorted grain into little sacks, and made sure the fire in the oven did not go out. Every morning the cat set off to find food.

Before leaving, he always said, “Brother Rooster, do not let anyone into the cottage. Especially not the fox. She speaks sweetly, but she thinks slyly.”

“Do not worry, Cat,” the rooster answered. “I will keep the door shut.”

One day, as soon as the cat had disappeared over the hill, the fox crept silently up to the cottage. She tapped very gently and sang, “Rooster, Rooster, golden comb! Open the door for just a moment. I have brought you the finest grain.”

The rooster came to the door, but he remembered the cat’s words.

“No, Fox,” he said. “Cat told me not to let anyone in.”

The fox tried to persuade him for a long time. She praised his feathers, promised him seeds, and said she wished only to say hello. At last the rooster thought, “What could happen in one little moment?” and opened the door a crack.

The fox snatched him up at once and ran down the path.

Frightened, the rooster cried, “Brother Cat, answer quickly! The fox is carrying me down the path! Over the little bridge and beyond the dark grove, dear friend, come and rescue me!”

The cat was still nearby. He heard the cry, dropped his food bag, and raced after the fox. He caught up with her beside the bridge, frightened her with a loud hiss, and she dropped the rooster.

At home the cat said, “Do you see what comes of a stranger’s sweet promises?”

The rooster lowered his head.

“I see. I will not open the door again.”

The next morning the cat went out for food once more. The fox waited until he was gone, then returned to the door.

“Rooster, I was rude yesterday,” she said in her gentlest voice. “Today I only want to apologize. I will not even step over the threshold.”

“I do not believe you,” said the rooster.

“Then at least look outside. I have put a gift for you by the door.”

The rooster hesitated for a long time. Then he carefully opened the door just enough to look with one eye.

But the fox had been waiting for that. Snatch! She was off again with the rooster tucked under her arm.

The rooster called out once more, “Brother Cat, answer quickly! The fox is carrying me down the path! Past the old willow and beyond the far grove, dear friend, come and rescue me!”

The cat heard him from the edge of the forest. He ran so fast that dry leaves whirled behind his paws. And for a second time he freed his friend.

This time the cat spoke more firmly.

“I will not always be close by. You must learn to say no for yourself, and not take it back.”

“Now I truly understand,” said the rooster.

A few days passed. The cat had to go far away, beyond two hills. Before he left, he reminded the rooster once more.

“Today I may not hear your voice. Take care of yourself.”

The fox noticed that the cat had gone far away. She came for the third time. This time she did not sing or ask to be admitted. She simply scattered a handful of shining grain beneath the window and hid.

The rooster saw the grains.

“I will only gather them quickly and come straight back,” he told himself.

He stepped onto the threshold, and the fox sprang out from behind the fence.

The rooster cried and called for the cat, but the cat was too far away. The fox carried him to her den and set him in a corner.

“You will sit here until evening,” she said. “Then I will decide what to do with you.”

The rooster fell quiet. Now he knew very well that the third time, it was not only the fox’s cleverness that had led him astray. It was his own carelessness.

When the cat came home and saw the open door and the scattered grain by the threshold, he understood at once.

“Oh, my friend. I must rescue you.”

The cat took an old violin, a bow, and a large canvas sack. He went to the fox’s den, sat behind a bush, and began to play so merrily that even the leaves seemed to tremble in time.

Inside the den, everyone grew alert.

“Who is playing so beautifully?” asked the fox’s young ones.

One of them peeped outside.

“Come closer,” the cat called softly. “I have not only music, but a wonderful sack. Whoever looks inside will hear a special tune.”

The young fox put her nose into the sack. Quick as a wink, the cat drew the cord closed, not tightly, but enough that she could not leap out.

In the same way, he outwitted several more of the den’s inhabitants. At last the old fox herself came out.

“What is this concert without me?” she asked.

The cat stopped playing and said, “There will be a concert when you return my friend.”

The fox narrowed her eyes.

“And if I do not return him?”

“Then your whole family will sit in the sack until morning and listen to one single note,” said the cat.

He drew the bow across the violin and made a long, long, squealing sound.

From the sack came an immediate cry. “Mother, it is better to give back the rooster!”

The fox sighed and brought out the frightened but unharmed rooster.

“Let us make an agreement,” said the cat. “You will no longer hunt near our cottage or lure the rooster away. And I will let everyone go home.”

The fox thought for a moment, looked at the sack, and agreed.

The cat untied the cord. One by one, the young foxes jumped out and ran into the den. The old fox followed them, but before she went inside, she looked back.

“All right, Cat. Today you have outwitted me.”

“Not you alone,” said the cat, glancing at the rooster.

On the way home, the rooster walked in silence. At the doorstep, he finally said, “Cat, now I understand for real. When you know that something is dangerous, you do not need to test it a second or a third time.”

The cat smiled.

“Now that is wise.”

From that day on, the rooster did not open the door for sly persuasion, and he did not go beyond the threshold for tempting bait. The fox kept far from their cottage.

And the cat and the rooster lived together peacefully again. One went out to find food, while the other kept house. In the evenings, the cat took out his violin, the rooster sang along, and their little cottage was so cheerful that no fox ever dared creep toward its door again.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨