Animal Stories Of The North

Translated by Fainna Solasko
freebooksforkids.net
Illustrated by Y.Rachov

How Vixen Tricked Seal

An Orochi Story

Squirrel and her family lived in a big tree. One day Vixen came along and said,

"Give me one of your little ones!"

"I will not!" Squirrel replied.

"If you don't, I'll chop down your tree and roast you all on a spit!"

Animal Stories Of The North

Squirrel became frightened and did as Vixen told her to. Vixen ran off to the woods, but was soon back again.

"Give me one of your little ones!" she said.

"I will not!"

"If you don't, I'll chop down your tree and roast you all on a spit!"

So Squirrel did as Vixen told her to and was grieving in her tree when Heron perched beside it.

"What's the matter?" Heron asked.

"Vixen has been coming here after my little squirrels. She says she'll chop down our tree and roast us all on a spit if I don't give them up."

"Now listen to me, Squirrel. Don't you believe a word of what she says. Next time she comes by you say, ‘You've neither an axe nor a spit.' And when she wants to know who said so, you say, 'Heron.' " And Heron flew off towards the sea.

The next time Vixen came by and shouted, "Give me a squirrel or I'll chop down your tree and roast you all on a spit!" Squirrel replied,

"You've neither an axe nor a spit."

"Who said so, you stupid squirrel?"

"Heron."

"Where is she?"

"She flew off towards the sea."

"I'll catch that bird," Vixen said to herself and hurried off in the same direction. When she spotted Heron she began creeping up, but when she was close enough to pounce, Heron took to the air. Vixen sprang, got a grip on Heron's tail feathers, was lifted up and carried out over the water.

Animal Stories Of The North

They were soon flying over a tiny island. Vixen's jaws were quite numb by now. She opened her mouth, let go of Heron's tail and fell, landing on the island.

"What'll I do? How'll I get back to the mainland?" Vixen wondered. She could think of nothing. "Owww! Owww!" she howled.

Baby Seal stuck his head out of the water. "Why're you crying?" he asked.

"I'm not. I'm singing."

"What're you singing about?"

"I'm singing a song about a very wise vixen, meaning me, of course, who knows how to count and has counted all the animals in the world. All except you seals. But there probably aren't many of you anyway."

"You're wrong. We're a very big people."

"How many of you are there?"

"I don't know, but if we all surface at once we'll fill all the space in the sea between this island and the mainland."

"Well, then, you do that, and I'll count you."

Baby Seal disappeared under the water. Soon the sea began to churn. All the seals in that part of the sea were surfacing. There were so many of them they filled the sea between the island and the mainland.

Vixen set out, stepping from head to head, on her journey back to the mainland. As she trotted along she kept repeating, "One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three," going from seal to seal until at last she reached land again. Once on the shore, she placed her front paws on her hips and laughed.

"Well? How many of us are there?" the seals finally wanted to know.

But Vixen was laughing so hard she couldn't stop. "I tricked you!" she shouted. "I ran along your heads till I reached shore. If you want to know, I can only count up to three. But as for being foxy, I've three times three tricks up my sleeve!"

"You've made us seals surface for nothing," Old Mother Seal said. "You're a mean animal, Vixen. Yes, you've lots of tricks up your sleeve, but not enough to keep you from falling into Man's trap."

Old Mother Seal was right. The next time Vixen went hunting she was caught in a trap.

Read all Animal Stories Of The North

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