The Fox and the Crane became friends. After a while, the Fox invited the Crane over for dinner. The Crane accepted the invitation and went to the Fox’s house. The Fox had some soup prepared and served it on a flat plate.
The Crane tried peck-peck-pecking on the plate, but couldn’t get anything in his mouth. The Fox didn’t have such problems: she just licked the food from the plate. In fact, she ate the whole dinner by herself.
Walking out of her house, the Crane decided to invite the Fox to his home to return the favour. The very next day, the Fox went to the Crane. He had prepared soup for her, and served it in a pitcher with a narrow neck. Putting the pitcher on the table, the Crane exclaimed:
– Try it, my foxy friend, try it – you haven’t tasted anything like it ever before.
The fox curiously started walking around the table. She tried examining the pitcher, licking it and sniffing it – but, no matter how hard she tried, her head just couldn’t go inside the narrow neck.
Because of his long beak, the Crane skipped these formalities. He started pecking and, soon enough, packed the whole meal away.
The Lesson
- If you want to become somebody’s friend, take care of him – not of yourself.
Source
- Tales of the People of the World. Vol. 1, Russian Folk Tales, M., 1987.
