This was a fox. She was a dressed-up red beauty who, gracefully swaying her hips and waving her fluffy tail, slowly moved along a narrow forest path. The character of this beauty was the complete opposite of her appearance.
Her cunning and slyness were so unbearable that all the forest inhabitants tried to avoid meeting her. The fox walked and was clearly looking for someone. Yes, she intended to meet anyone, just to lift her mood, which had been off since morning.
Mood... Suddenly the beauty noticed that for a long time the Fox had not seen her charm, her new beautiful clothes, so well suited to her slender figure, and he no longer paid her compliments. And on the contrary, he had begun to make stupid and absurd remarks like "...a home is empty without little pot-bellied fox cubs," and "...the house doesn't smell like a mistress...".
"Foxes become foolish with age!" she decided, but her mood...
The best cure for the fox's melancholy was available: to deceive someone, lead them astray, or simply gossip. Alas, the path was empty, the forest seemed deserted.
Suddenly the grass rustled, and a snake appeared on the path. Its appearance was so unexpected that the fox involuntarily shuddered, but, quickly recovering, straightened up, showing off her slender figure, and immediately began to speak:
Greetings, wisest of the wise! How glad I am to meet precisely you! Of course, I am in a great hurry, but to speak with you is an honor for every inhabitant of the forest. You know... They say that at the fair there appeared well-fed hens and turkeys, and I want to taste something delicious! Let's go together and have fun!
The fox was afraid of losing her interlocutor, spoke in a rush, and this made her even more attractive. Without stopping for a second, she quickly turned her monologue to personal problems, as if hurrying to express everything that had accumulated in her passionate soul.
Finally, the heated beauty blurted out almost everything that tormented her proud fox heart. She waited a moment and, hearing no response, continued her monologue a bit more slowly:
But if you have met me, then tell me, why are all "husbands" such bores? My betrothed has long intended to turn me into a housewife, worn out and needed by no one. But no!
The fox lifted her nose.
I am still young and beautiful to sit in a burrow...
Snakes, as we know, are indeed distinguished by wisdom and few words.
Such is life.
She said.
Any merriment will eventually end, and we will be left alone with our conscience. And no one will escape this difficult conversation, no one.
These words, spoken into the void, were not preachy and did not provoke a storm of protest in the willful heart of the fox, but something stirred in the soul of the proud one, an unknown force made her sit down on the nearest stump.
The dressed-up beauty no longer wanted to show off her clothes, go anywhere, see anyone, or chatter endlessly...
And somehow she no longer wanted to rejoice in others' sorrows.
Slowly the fox made her way home, put on a simple modest coat, and began to clean her long-neglected burrow....
