Summer has flown by so fast,
Soon will come the fall and frost.
The snake began to think and sigh:
"I have no coat, oh my, oh my!
All the animals have fur so warm,
I have only skin — what a form!"
And she sighed upon the hill,
Her sad thoughts would not be still.
Past her came a fox so fair,
With her russet coat so rare.
The snake hissed out in her wake:
"Oh, how I wish that coat I'd take!"
A wolf who heard her cry of pain
Said to her: "Now don't be vain!
In a coat you could not swim —
You would tear yourself to the brim.
We animals need fur so thick,
For the winter's cruel trick.
Fur protects us from the freeze,
It's a shield against the breeze!
But you sleep through winter's night
In your burrow, warm and tight.
Fur you do not need at all,
Nor a feast before you fall".
In this tale there is a clue:
"Envy's bad, my friend, it's true".
