A Simple Story on Easter Sunday

Again, with a Fox..!

Today I share a story, it’s one I’ve enjoyed telling on occasion. Feel free to take it on, adapt and share where and how you wish - we need more storytellers in the world today.

The Fox & the Dog

There was once a fox who was having a particularly bad day. All the leaves had fallen from the trees, and summer was a distant dream away. It was the middle of winter, and he was cold and hungry. A wind cut across the field that would split a stone in half. and doubts prowled his mind like a band of hunters trying to pull him down. 

‘I’m not sure I want to be a fox anymore, he thought to himself. And again, 

‘I’m not sure I want to be a fox anymore.’

He walked across the frozen ground with his head hanging low when he saw a light shining in the distance. He walked towards it until he came to a large white farmhouse. It was alone in the countryside, with a neat lawn out front and a stone path that divided it in half. He followed the stone path to the back of the house, and there he saw a little structure with a door that was ajar. He pushed himself inside, stood, and looked into the eyes at another animal.

‘What are you?’ The fox asked

‘I’m a dog, the animal responded.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I live here, said the dog.

‘You live here?’ said the fox as he looked around the dogs home, with the blankets on the ground, the bowls of water and food, and the walls sheltering the cold wind outside.

‘Yes, I live here, said the dog. ‘Isn’t it nice? I have my own bed, and my owners keep it clean. Every day they bring me food and put it here in my bowl, and twice a day they bring me for a walk, usually to the river across the fields but sometimes to the forest too.’

The fox felt a longing rise up in his heart, and he asked the dog,

‘Can I live here too’?

This made the dog very happy. ‘Sure, he said, ‘there are enough blankets for the both of us.’ 

The fox noticed something around the dog's neck, and he looked at it with all his curiosity.

‘What is that?’ he asked.

‘This? Oh, that’s my collar. It’s nothing. I just keep it on. It has my name on it and a number to call if I ever get lost.

The fox looked around some more and saw something else that caught his eye. There was a rope of metal rings attached to the collar, and it was fastened to a post on the wall. The dog looked at the fox with amusement. ‘That’s my chain’. He said. ‘They put that on so I don’t run away, but I don’t think it’s necessary; I mean, I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Ah, said the fox, ‘I see.’

And the fox turned back to the open door.

A lick of cold wind was curling its fingers around the edges.. The moonlight was casting silver threads of light across the field outside.

‘Thank you’, said he fox, and he slipped back outside.

The End

Happy Easter everyone.