The Fox and the Horse



With the cunning of the fox, the old horse drags a lion to its master and is then allowed to stay with him.

A farmer had a faithful horse that had grown old and could no longer do any work, so his master would not give him anything to eat and said, "Of course I can no longer use you, but I mean it well with you, if you show yourself so strong that you bring me a lion here, I want to keep you, but now get out of my stable," and with that he chased it into the wide field. The horse was sad and went towards the forest to seek some shelter from the weather. Then the fox met him and said, "Why are you hanging your head and walking around so lonely?" I've worked for so many years, and because I can't till properly any longer, he won't give me any more fodder, and has chased me away.' 'Without any consolation?' asked the fox. "The consolation was bad, he said if I were still strong enough to bring him a lion, he wanted to keep me, but he knows well that I can't do that." The fox said, "I want to help you, just lie down, stretch out and don't move, as if you were dead." The horse did what the fox asked, but the fox went to the lion, which had its den not far away, and said, "Out there lies a dead horse, come out with me, you can have a hearty meal there.” The lion went with them, and as they stood by the horse, the fox said, “You don’t have it at your leisure here, you know what? I want to tie it to you with my tail, so you can drag it into your cave and eat it in your own time.” The lion liked the advice, he stood up and kept very still so that the fox could tie his horse to him. But the fox tied the lion's legs together with the horse's tail and twisted and tied everything so tightly and tightly that no force could tear it apart. When he had finished his work, he patted the horse on the shoulder and said, "Pull, gray horse, pull." Then the horse jumped up all of a sudden and dragged the lion away with it. The lion began to roar so that the birds in the whole forest flew up in terror, but the horse let him roar and pulled and dragged him across the field in front of his master's door. When the master saw this, he thought better of it and spoke to the horse, "You shall stay with me and have it good," and fed him until he died.