The Fox and the Cat

The Fox and the Cat

One morning, a cat walked along a forest path. The sun had just appeared behind the trees, dew glittered on spiderwebs, and the cat was in an excellent mood.

A fox came toward him.

The cat stopped politely.

“Good morning, Madam Fox.”

The fox looked down her nose at him.

“Good? Perhaps. And who are you to speak to me first?”

The cat was surprised but not offended.

“Simply a neighbor from the forest.”

The fox adjusted her tail.

“I happen to know a hundred ways to escape danger. And I have an entire bag of clever tricks.”

“A hundred?” said the cat admiringly. “That is a lot.”

“How many do you know?”

The cat thought.

“One.”

The fox laughed.

“Only one? Poor creature! And what is this great skill?”

“If something chases me, I climb a tree very quickly.”

“And that is all?”

“That is all. But I do it very well.”

The fox was about to explain why a truly clever animal should know dozens of complicated plans when barking sounded in the distance.

The cat’s ears rose.

The barking came closer.

Several hunting dogs appeared on the path, following a scent and calling to one another.

“Time for my one trick,” said the cat.

Jump!

He landed on a low branch.

Another jump!

Now he sat high among the leaves where no dog could reach him.

“Madam Fox!” he called. “Open your bag of tricks!”

The fox ran right.

Then she decided left would be better and turned back.

Then she remembered the bushes.

Then the stream.

Then an old burrow beneath a rock.

“Which plan should I choose?” she panicked. “I have a hundred!”

The dogs were already close.

At last, the fox stopped sorting through all her clever ideas and simply ran as fast as she could toward a thick blackberry patch. She slipped beneath the branches, crossed the stream on stones, and hid in an old burrow on the other side.

The dogs lost the scent and ran on.

After a while, the cat climbed down from the oak.

The fox cautiously came out too. Her fur was untidy, and a dry leaf was caught in her tail.

The cat said nothing.

The fox sighed.

“You know, a hundred plans sound impressive. But while I was choosing among them, I nearly lost all my time.”

“Perhaps one dependable skill is better than a hundred you cannot use in time,” said the cat.

The fox nodded.

“And perhaps I should not laugh at someone else’s abilities.”

From then on, whenever she met the cat on the forest path, she no longer looked down her nose at him.

And if anyone asked how many tricks she knew, the fox answered:

“Enough. But now I practice the best one every day: think first, boast later.”

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨