The Sly Fox

The Fox was walking on the road and found a stick. He picked it up and went on. He reached a village and knocked on someone’s door:

– Knock – knock-knock!

– Who is it? – someone asked.

– It’s me – the Sly Fox. Let me spend the night at your house.

– There isn’t enough space. There isn’t enough space for us anyway!

– I won’t cause you inconvenience. I will lie down on the plank-bed, my tail will be under the plank-bed, and my stick will be under the stove.

They pitied him and let him in.

The Fox lay down on the plank-bed, his tail – under the plank-bed, and his stick – under the stove. During the night, the Sly Fox got up and burnt his stick, and in the morning he started yelling.

– Where is my stick? I want my stick back! I won’t leave without it. Only a hen can replace my stick.

The owner was startled. He thought and thought, and after all what to do – he gave him a hen. The Fox took the hen and while walking on the road sang:

The Fox was walking on the road,

and found a stick

and in exchange of it

the Sly Fox got a hen.

The Fox walked all day and in the evening he reached another village.

– Knock – knock – knock!

– Who is it?

– It’s me – The Sly Fox. Let me spend the night at your house.

– There isn’t enough space, Sly Fox. There isn’t enough, even for us!

– I won’t cause you inconvenience. I will lie down on the plank-bed, my tail will be under it, and the hen will be under the stove.

They let him in. During the night the Fox got up again, plucked the hen and ate it. And in the morning he started whining:

– Where is my hen? I want my hen back! If not – give me a duck in exchange.

The owner didn’t have any other choice and gave him a duck. And the Sly Fox took the duck, left and started singing cheerfully:

The fox was walking on the road

and found a stick,

and for the stick, he took

a hen, and for the hen

he got a fat duck.

At dusk the Fox reached a third village.

– Knock – knock – knock!

– Who is it?

– It’s me – the Sly Fox. Let me spend the night at your house.

– No! We don’t have enough space anyway!

– I won’t cause you inconvenience! I will lie down on the plank-bed, my tail – under the plank-bed, and the duck – under the stove.

They let him in. He lay down on the plank-bed, his tail – under it, the duck – under the stove. He hardly waited them to fall asleep, jumped and grabbed the duck and ate it.

In the morning, when everyone got up, the Fox started yelling:

– Where is my duck? Give me your daughter in exchange for it!

– We would give her up, Fox, but how are you going to carry her?

– Put her in the bag!

But how the owner is going to give his girl! Instead of putting the girl in the bag, he put the big dog and gave the bag to the Fox. The Sly Fox set off and ordered:

– Come on girl, sing me a song!

And the dog growled. The Fox frightened threw the bag and started running.

The big dog jumped out and darted after him. The dog chases the Fox, the Fox runs, the dog chases, and the Fox runs, and finally he hid in his hole under one stump. He took a deep breath and started whining:

– Oh, I was full of fear!

And then he started asking:

– My ears, my ears, what did you do while the dog was chasing me?

– We were listening, Fox!

– And what about you, my dear legs, what did you do?

– We were running to save you, Fox!

– And what about you, my eyes?

– We watched!

– And you, my tail?

– And I was hampering you.

– Indeed? Then I will give you to the dog to eat you!

And the Sly Fox showed her tail out of the hole and shouted:

– Here dog, eat it!

The dog waited exactly that. He grabbed the tail and started pulling it. The Fox pulled in, the dog pulled out, the Fox – in, the dog – out.

The dog pulled and pulled, and pulled the Sly Fox out and made him mincemeat!

Bulgarian Folk Tale