In a village, there was a lush garden where a man lived with his son. They kept chickens, roosters, cows, and grew crops.
A fox also lived nearby, who loved to eat chickens.
One day, the fox snatched a chicken firmly in its mouth.
The owner and his son noticed and tried to quickly catch it, but the fox was fast and they failed.
The fox escaped.
After eating the chicken, the fox spoke with his friend, a sparrow.
The fox laughed and said, "See, little sparrow? See how I am the smartest fox? No one can trap me."
The sparrow replied, "But Mr. Fox, your very arrogance and pride will be your downfall."
The fox said, "Very well, tonight I will go to that garden again. Come and see for yourself."
A few hours passed. The garden's owner returned from the market with a gun in his hand.
He told his son, "I bought this from the market. Now if he returns, I know what to do—I'll shoot him."
The son said, "Well done, Dad."
Night fell.
The sparrow sat on a branch of a tree in the garden.
The fox finally arrived.
The sparrow said, "Hello."
The fox replied, "Hello, little sparrow. See? I entered the garden. Now watch what I do."
The sparrow watched carefully.
The fox entered the henhouse through a window, grabbed a rooster in its mouth, and tried to escape.
The man and his son woke up.
The man began shooting with his gun, but the fox was agile and the bullets missed.
The fox threw itself into a river and escaped again.
The sparrow, having seen everything, left the garden and returned home.
The next morning,
the fox was sitting at the entrance of its den, licking its paws, and said, "Well, did you see how clever I am?
Do you believe me now?"
The sparrow remained silent.
The fox said, "Tonight you'll see that I'm also the bravest."
The gardener said, "No, this won't do. He has eaten so many of my chickens. Tonight, I'll stay awake and hide—I'll catch him when he comes."
Night came.
The man hid behind one of the trees.
The fox went toward the garden, but as it reached the gate, it saw it was open.
It thought, "The gardener left the gate open? Heh, he must have a plan.
Gardener, you can't fool me like that—I'm clever."
The fox sat right there and waited patiently.
The gardener, unaware, fell asleep from exhaustion.
The next morning, he woke to his son's voice: "Dad, are you okay? The fox came and stole again!"
The gardener shouted in anger, "I'll set a trap!"
He set a trap and placed a piece of meat on it.
That night, the fox returned, and the sparrow came too.
The fox said, "Look, sparrow, tonight he set a trap for me."
Using a stick, it took the meat and ate it.
Then, just for fun and mockery, the fox jumped over the trap once.
It laughed and said, "The gardener thinks he's clever, but foxes are smarter, braver, and faster than humans."
It jumped over the trap several times—until suddenly, its tail got caught in the trap.
The trap snapped shut on its tail.
The fox fainted from pain.
The sparrow said, "I told you so."
The next morning, the gardener came with his son and they began to laugh.
The man said, "I'm satisfied. Now I know what to do with you.
You fell into the trap because of your own cleverness—just as the saying goes:
The fox's tail is trapped because of its own cleverness.