Tale of a Tail

THERE lived a fox who was proud of his good looks and rightly so. He had a sleek body covered in rich red-brown fur. His eyes shone like black diamonds. His ears resembled arrowheads. But it was his tail — long and luxuriant — that he treasured most of all.

One day, he was chasing a small hare. The fox followed it into some undergrowth, when snap! A trap closed suddenly and painfully on his tail! The fox yelped and tried to pull his tail out but to no avail. Finally, after a mighty heave, he was free, but alas! Most of his beautiful tail was gone! Heartbroken, the fox hid in a cave. He dared not show his face to the pack.

A week later, the fox crawled out of the cave. His wound had healed and he had a plan to get the pack on his side. He called for a meeting.

"Friends," he said, careful to sit with his back against a broad tree trunk, "I have been away because I had to think about something that concerns all of us.

"Since for us, our tails are our most precious possessions, we should take good care of them. But there are dangers lurking everywhere! Traps set up by unscrupulous humans who want our tails as trophies, hedges where they get entangled and prevent us from escaping our enemies. The weight of our tails slows us down, too!

"So I suggest we all cut off our tails so that we are safe forever!" concluded the fox.

There was stunned silence. Then an old fox got up.

"Why don't you turn around?" he said mildly. "Then you shall have our answer."

The sight of his tailless backside was greeted with such a storm of jeering, that the poor fox knew it was a lost cause.

And it cannot even be said that he turned tail and ran, because he didn't have one!