The Wolf and the Fox - Part Three

There was no one else in the courtyard and there was a well in the far side with two buckets suspended from a pole just as the fox had described it.

The Fox leaned over and looked into the well and she saw that there was very little water in the bottom. 

But the water was enough to reflect the big full moon, which was round and yellow. 

The Fox turned to the Wolf. “How lucky there's a lot of cheese about the size of a wheel down the well? Look, have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” 

The Wolf peered over the well and saw the reflection of the moon and thought that it was the cheese and his mouth glistened greedily. 

“Get inside the bucket,” the fox waved to the bucket, “Go down and eat to your full.” 

The Wolf shook its head with a sly grin. “So that is your game? No, you will go down in the bucket and you will get it up for me.” 

The fox had expected this reply and she shrugged. “Of course.” 

“But don't eat all the cheese yourself, or it will be worse for you.” The Wolf continued. 

The fox then climbed into the bucket, and she reached the bottom of the well and found that the water was just deep enough to cover her legs. She turned to the wolf above. “The cheese is larger and richer than I thought.” She said to the Wolf who was still above the well. 

“Bring it up,” the Wolf commanded her.  

I can’t!” The fox whined. “It weighs more than I do.” 

The wolf snarled. “If it is so heavy then bring it in two bits.” 

“I have no knife,” the fox told the wolf. “You will have to come down yourself, and we'll have to carry the cheese up between us. 

The wolf was confused for a few seconds. “How do I come down the well?” 

“You're so stupid! Get into the other bucket that is over your head.”

The wolf did as it was told.

The wolf was heavier than the fox and as the bucket with the wolf went down, the bucket with the fox came out of the well.

A second later the fox calmly jumped out of the bucket of the well which was on top and reached the parapet of the well and looked down from there.

The wolf had a sudden sickening feeling because he realized that the fox had fooled him into getting down the well.

Instead of being angry the wolf comforted himself saying that he at least had on the cheese inside the well. 

That was when the wolf looked around and so that there was no cheese, but instead it was the water which reflected the moon's light.

“You traitor!” The wolf cried howling with rage. 

However, the fox was not there to hear this. She had gone off to the neighboring house where she noticed some fat young chickens which she took as food for her children.

The fox reached her cave. “Probably I did treat the wolf a little badly. But it seems to get a little cloudy. There should be heavy rain, and the bucket may fill and sink to the bottom. And his bucket will go up and there is a chance he may escape.”

With those thoughts the fox entered its cave.

Adapted from Basque Folk Tales