A Hen for a Bast Shoe, a Gosling for a Hen

A fox was walking along a path when she found a little bast shoe. She came to a peasant’s house and asked: “Good man, let me stay the night.”

A fox was walking along a path when she found a little bast shoe. She came to a peasant’s house and asked:

“Good man, let me stay the night.”

He said:

“There’s no room, little fox! It’s too crowded!”

“But how much room could I need? I’ll lie on the bench, with my tail underneath.”

They let her stay the night, and she said:

“Put my little bast shoe in with your hens.”

They did, but the fox got up in the night and threw her shoe away. When everyone rose in the morning, she asked for her shoe, and her hosts said:

“Little fox, it’s gone!”

“Then give me a hen in its place.”

She took the hen and went to another house, where she asked them to put her hen in with their goslings. During the night she hid the hen, and in the morning she got a gosling in its place. At the next house, she asked to stay the night and have her gosling put in with the little rams. She played the same trick again, took a little ram in place of the gosling, and went on to another house. She stayed the night and asked to put her little ram in with the hosts’ bull calves. During the night the fox stole away the ram too, and in the morning she demanded a bull calf in its place.

She strangled them all—the hen, the gosling, the little ram, and the bull calf—and hid the meat. Then she stuffed the calf’s hide with straw and set it on the road. A bear and a wolf came along, and the fox said:

“Go and steal a sleigh, and we’ll go for a ride.”

So they stole a sleigh and a harness collar, hitched up the calf, and all climbed into the sleigh. The fox took the reins and called:

“Hup, hup, little bull, with your sides full of straw! Someone else’s sleigh, a collar that isn’t ours—get going, don’t stand still!”

The calf did not move. She jumped out of the sleigh and shouted:

“Stay there, you fools!” And off she went.

The bear and the wolf were delighted with their catch and began tearing at the calf. They tore and tore, then saw that it was nothing but hide and straw. They shook their heads and went home.