A Hen for a Little Bast Shoe, a Goose for a Hen

A fox was walking along a path when she found a little shoe woven from strips of inner tree bark. As evening came, she asked to stay the night in a warm house.…

A fox was walking along a path when she found a little shoe woven from strips of inner tree bark. As evening came, she asked to stay the night in a warm house. She settled on a bench, put her tail beneath it and left her find near the henhouse. In the morning, a hen nestled in the little bast shoe as though it were a nest and decided of her own accord to walk with the fox to the fair. Her owners gave her permission to go and offered a colourful feather as a keepsake.

On the road, a goose, a ram and a young bull joined the travellers, each with their owner's permission. They decorated the little shoe with the hen's feather, goose down, a woollen ribbon and a tinkling bell. The fox made up a counting rhyme for the journey: “A hen for a little bast shoe, a goose for a hen, a ram for a goose, a young bull for a ram!” Everyone knew it was a game: no one was trading friends for anything.

The friendly company headed towards the forest fair. Each carried a gift: the hen brought eggs for pies, the goose warm down, the ram wool for mittens, and the young bull a basket of apples. The fox took care of the decorated little shoe as a symbol of their shared journey. At every stop, she told the story of how the counting rhyme had begun.

Near the fair, they met a bear and a wolf beside an empty sled. The sled belonged to the forester, so the friends first asked permission to take a ride. As a decoration, the fox tied a small straw figure of a bull to the front of the sled and rang the bell. The real young bull slowly pulled the company along a circular path, while the bear and the wolf helped at the turns.

After the ride, the friends gathered beside the sled, where a little board had come loose. The bear held it, the wolf tightened a rope over a soft woollen ribbon, and the fox checked the knot. The forester set a samovar beside them and thanked the helpers. Above them, on the fairground gate, hung the decorated little bast shoe: a sign that a kind chain of friendship holds together through honesty and helping one another.