grey fairy tale book

Chapter 46 The War Between Wolves and Foxes

Once upon a time there was a couple who had an old cat and an old dog.One day, the husband Simon said to his wife Susan: "Why do we continue to keep this old female cat? She is too old to catch a mouse. She is useless to us. I decided to drown her." .”

The wife said, "Don't do that, I'm sure she can still catch mice."

"Nonsense!" said Simon. "If the mice danced on her head she wouldn't catch them. I've made up my mind that the next time I see her I'll throw her in the water and drown."

Her husband's words made Susan very sad--and of course the cat was very sad, too, having overheard their conversation behind the fire.When Simon went out to work, the old cat meowed sadly and looked at Susan's face pitifully.Susan opened the door at once and said, "Run for your life, poor little one, and run away till your master comes back!"

The cat obeyed her advice, and ran desperately towards the woods with its old arms and legs.When Simon got home, Susan told him that the cat was gone.

"As luck would have it," said Simon, "now that we've got rid of the cat, we'll have to think about what to do with our old dog! He didn't even dare to fart. Just hang him."

Soft-hearted Susan said: "Please don't do it, he is not useless at all."

"Don't be stupid," said the husband. "Even if the yard is full of thieves, he won't find out. No, I tell you, the next time I see him, I'll send him to heaven."

Her husband's words made Susan terribly sad—and certainly the old dog, who was curled up in the corner of the house, overheard all their conversation.As soon as Simon went out, Susan immediately opened the door and said to the old dog: "Run for your life, poor guy, run as far as possible before your master comes back!" The old dog fled desperately to the woods with its tail between its legs. go.

When Simon came back, Susan told him that the dog was gone too.

"Lucky it," said Simon.But Susan just let out a long sigh, because for so many years, she had loved to pity her cat and dog.

The flowers bloom with two leaves, each representing a branch.It is said that the old cat and the old dog met on the way to escape.Although they were not best friends when they were at home, they are still very happy to meet old friends in a foreign country.They sit under a holly tree and rant to each other.Speaking of sadness, a fox passed by here.The fox saw the cat and the dog squatting helplessly under the tree, so he greeted them kindly, and asked them why they were sitting here and what they were complaining about.

The cat said: "I used to be a good mouse catcher, and I could catch many mice every day. But now I am old and can't do it anymore, and my master will drown me."

The dog said: "How many sleepless nights, I have faithfully guarded the master's house, and now I am old and deaf, and he will hang me."

The fox heard this and said: "The world is so cruel. But I have a way to make you regain the master's favor, the condition is that you must first help me overcome the difficulties in front of me."

The cat and the dog promised to do their best, so the fox continued, "The wolf has declared war on me. He has the bear and the boar to help him, and he is coming here now. Tomorrow morning there will be a fierce battle between me and them." .”

"Well," said the cat and the dog, "we'll back you up. It's better to die in battle than to be butchered at home." So they made an alliance with each other.The fox sent a message to the wolf, asking them to go to a specific place to fight, so the wolf, the bear and the wild boar came aggressively.They came earlier than the Foxes, and after waiting a while, the Bear said, "I'll climb up the tree and see if they've come."

It climbed up a tree and looked around, and said, "I don't see anything." The second time he said, "I still don't see anything." The third time he said, "I see a great army in the distance , one of the warriors was holding a spear, you've never seen such a big spear!"

The wolf and the wild boar took a closer look, and found that it was an old cat walking slowly with its tail upright.They laughed.Because the weather was very hot, Xiong said: "If things go on like this, the enemy won't come for a few more hours. I'm going to curl up on the tree branch and take a nap."

The wolf also lay down under the oak tree, and the boar buried himself in the hay, so that only one ear was visible from the outside.

When the fox, the cat, and the dog arrived, the wolves were still lying down.The cat saw the wild boar's ear at a glance, and thought it was a mouse lying on the grass, so it rushed up and bit the "mouse" fiercely.

The wild boar was sleeping soundly, when something suddenly jumped on its head and gave it a hard bite on the ear.It was frightened out of its wits, screamed in pain, and fled into the depths of the forest, never daring to come back.But the cat was more startled than the wild boar. It jumped onto the tree branch with a "whoosh" in fright, and came face to face with the bear.This time it was the bear's turn to be frightened half to death. He yelled in fright and fell down the tree, hitting the wolf on the head, smashing the wolf into a meatloaf.

So the fox side came back victorious.On the way back, the fox caught more than 20 mice.They sneaked into Simon's house, put the mice by the fire, and said to the cat, "Now put these mice one by one before your master."

"Very well," said the Cat, and did as the Fox commanded.When Susan found the cat coming to her with a mouse in its mouth, she said to her husband, "Look! Our old cat is back again. He has caught so many mice!"

"There are all sorts of rare things!" cried Simon. "I never thought the old cat could catch mice."

Susan replied, "See for yourself! I always say our cats are the best--but you men are always presumptuous."

Meanwhile the Fox said to the Dog, "Our friend Simon has just killed a pig, and when it gets dark, go into the yard and bark with all your might."

"Okay," said the dog.So when it got dark, it got into the yard and barked loudly.

Susan heard his barking first, and she said to her husband, "Our old dog is back too! I hear him barking like hell. Go and see what's going on, maybe a thief is stealing our sausages." .”

But Simon said, "This deaf and blind beast always barks when it's not busy." Turning over and falling asleep again.

Susan got up early the next morning, intending to go to the church in the neighboring town and deliver some sausages to her aunt.But when she went into the pantry, all the sausages were gone and there was a big hole in the floor.She cried out to her husband, "I'm right. There were thieves last night, and they didn't leave us a sausage. Oh! If you'd listen to me, get up and see!"

Simon scratched his head and said, "I really don't understand. I can't believe the old dog's hearing is so good."

Susan said, "I used to tell you our old dog was the best dog in the world, but you always thought yourself right. Oh! All men are the same all over the world!"

Of course the fox got the benefit too, because it was the one who took all the sausages away!

(End of this chapter)