Grandma and the Fox

Grandma had a goat. Every day she milked her and made good yoghurt, Do, Kara and keshik. Grandma felt that the milk she put in the pot was becoming less and less every day, and she did not know the reason. One day she hid herself under an old rug behind the pot and saw a fox coming, taking away the lid by his tail and drank the milk. Today grandma said nothing to the fox but she decided to do something about him later on.

The next day she hid herself behind the pot with an axe in her hand. When the fox started to drink she hit his tail with the axe and cut it directly from the bottom. The fox ran crying with pain and fear. When he returned to the fox pack everybody was laughing at him. ‘I never ever saw a fox without a tail’, said one, ‘a fox without a tail is not a fox anymore, go and find somewhere else to live’, another one said. The poor fox was hiding his head from shame; he could tolerate the pain but not the bullying.

He decided to go back to grandma and begging her for his tail. ‘Can I have my tail back please, dear grandma?’ he said. ‘I beg you, grandma; I promise you I’ll never ever drink your milk’. Grandma was now calmer than before but still firm and serious about the milk she lost. ‘Go and bring me back the milk, I’ll give your tail back’, she said in an authoritative and serious tone. 

The fox went to a goat and asked her for some milk to take to grandma in order to give his tale back.

‘Go bring me some fresh leaves so that I could give you some milk’, the goat said. The fox went to a tree. He told her his story with grandma and how he lost his tail. ‘Please give me some fresh leaves’ the fox said, ‘I’ll take them to the goat, the goat will give me some milk, I’ll take the milk to grandma and she’ll give my tail back’. The tree said: go and bring me some water and I’ll give you some fresh leaves.

The fox went to a fountain and asked her for water. ‘I have lost my tail and grandma wants her milk back in order to give my tail back’ the fox started, ‘I’ll take the water to the tree, the tree gives me leaves, I’ll take the leaves to the goat and the goat gives me milk, I’ll take the milk to grandma and she will give me my tail back’.  The fountain said: are you blind? You do not see that I have no water at the moment. I need some girls to come and dance here around me in order to bring water out.

The poor fox went to the girls and begged them to come to the fountain to dance. ‘Why you want us to dance there? The girls asked. ‘I have my tail with grandma’, the fox started, ‘I have to take you there to dance, the fountain brings water and I take the water to the tree, the tree will give me fresh leaves and I take the leaves to the goat, the goat will give milk to take to grandma and she will give my tail back’. The girls agreed but they said that they don’t have shoes, ‘we need new shoes for dancing’ they said.

The fox went to the shoemaker and asked him to make shoes for the girls in order to dance on the fountain, so the fountain gives water to the tree and the tree gives leaves to the goat, the goat gives milk to the fox and he should take it to grandma so that she returns his tail back. ‘No problem’ said the shoemaker, ‘but you have to bring me some eggs in order to make you the shoes’.

The fox went to the chicken and asked her for eggs. ‘if you give me some eggs’ he said, ‘I’ll take them to the shoemaker, so he will make shoes for the girls and the girls will dance on the fountain, the fountain will give me water and the tree will give me leaves, the goat will give me milk for grandma and she will return my tail to its place’. The chicken said that she needs some grains in order to give him some eggs. ‘When you bring the grains’, the chicken said, ‘you should not let my owner know!’.

He went to steal some grains as he did not dare to ask the farmers for grains. He found a grain store and brought grains for the chicken. The chicken gave him eggs and he took the eggs to the shoemaker. The shoemaker made shoes for the girls. The girls wore the shoes and did a good dance on the fountain. The fountain brought water and the fox took water to the tree. The tree gave fresh leaves to the fox and he took them to the goat. The goat gave him milk, he took it to grandma. Grandma brought the tail and connected it to its former place with some asphalt.
The fox ran elated with happiness as he got his tail back. However, happiness is not forever, as our forefathers said. When he arrived in the fox folk, they got sick with the smell of the tarmac. They said that they have never ever smelt a bad smell like that before. ‘You have to leave us alone, you are not a fox anymore’ the foxes said all together. The fox went back to grandma for a solution.

Grandma looked at his tale and got very sympathetic with the poor fox. She felt guilty about what happened and planned something for the fox.

She decorated the fox’s tail with colourful clothes and taught the fox what to tell the others. ‘Tell them you have found those decorations in the bottom of a very deep pond’, grandma started, ‘when they look at the pond they’ll see the reflection of your tail in the water and will believe you’.

The fox returned with the colourful tail and everybody was excited. ‘Where did you find those wonderful colours?’ they asked from all sides as they were all around him as somebody coming from another planet. ‘It is in the bottom of that pond there’, the fox said as he pointed to a place nearby. ‘There are tons of those decorations in the bottom’, the fox said. ‘Tell us where that pond is’ the foxes shouted without any thought of danger.

The fox took them to the pond and without telling them one word one or two jumped in the water, as they saw the reflection of his tail. The others did not wait for the outcome and jumped in the water. When the fox saw them in the water, all wet and disappointed, he laughed at them and told them that they have to stop bullying him for his new tail.