<h5 id="id00922">THE FARMER AND THE FOX</h5>
<p id="id00923">By Ramaswami Raju</p>
<p id="id00924">A FARMER was returning from a fair which he had attended the previous
day at a neighboring market town. He had a quantity of poultry which
he had purchased. A Fox observed this, and approaching the Farmer,
said, "Good morning, my friend."</p>
<p id="id00925">"What cheer, old fellow?" said the Farmer.</p>
<p id="id00926">"I am just coming from the wood, through which you mean to go with your
poultry. A band of highwaymen has been tarrying there since daybreak."</p>
<p id="id00927">"Then what shall I do?" said the Farmer.</p>
<p id="id00928">"Why," said the Fox, "if I were you I should stay here a while, and
after breakfast enter the wood, for by that time the robbers will have
left the place."</p>
<p id="id00929">"So be it," said the Farmer, and had a hearty breakfast, with Reynard
for his guest.</p>
<p id="id00930">They kept drinking for a long time. Reynard appeared to have lost his
wits; he stood up and played the drunkard to perfection. The Farmer,
who highly admired the pranks of his guest, roared with laughter, and
gradually fell into a deep slumber. It was some time after noon when
he awoke. To his dismay he found that the Fox was gone, and that the
poultry had all disappeared!</p>
<p id="id00931">"Alas!" said the Farmer, as he trudged on his way home with a heavy
heart, "I thought the old rogue was quite drowned in liquor, but I now
see it was all a pretense. One must indeed be very sober to play the
drunkard to perfection."</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.