The Little Fox that Was Eager to Grow Up (A fairy-tale)

Ksenia Isakowa

There was a Little Fox living in a forest located nearby a small village. He enjoyed every single thing he was surrounded by, (and we could say he was a life-loving creature) but it was a bitter nuisance which made him upset all the time.

His mum, the Grey Fox, never let her younger son outside to see what life might be like somewhere else not restrained by a fence. The Little Fox used to cry every night feeling jealous of his older brothers who could hang around without any strict orders from their mum. ‘How much I wish to grow up at last’ the Little Fox was saying this to his parent over and over again. And mum was always responding the same ‘You are too young to know what you’re talking about, my dear boy. Your age is wonderful. How much I wish to have been able to remain in it for a bit longer’. The Little Fox couldn’t understand what his mummy was talking about until his fourteen’s birthday had come.  He was finally allowed to go anywhere he wanted to. How glad our hero was!
At first he decided to join his brothers to go wherever their might go but then changed his mind. The Little Fox reckoned that one of the essential parts of becoming an adult was to figure out everything by oneself. So he chose a path his brothers had never walked by (and he never wondered why): the one which headed to the village. ‘Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!’ that was the only word  the Little Fox was replaying in his head when walking and relishing the view and the sounds of those unexplored parts of the forest. He also was taking a delight in the idea that none of his brothers or friends had ever been there. He didn’t notice when the path had ended and he found himself too close to the village. ‘Well, let’s see what’s in here!’ – the Little Fox suggested moving farther. But he didn’t take even two steps when suddenly a man jumped out from nowhere with a frightening shout ‘Aha! Got you! What a splendid fur coat for my little daughter I’m going to make out of you!’. The Little Fox froze and couldn’t breathe when the man started slowly creeping to grab him. All of a sudden, the Little Fox got his mind back and realized he had to run away, and that was what he did. Luckily, the man wasn’t expecting to find a fox or another animal to hunt so he didn’t have a gun with him, and he was also too fat and lazy to try to catch ‘the fur coat’. As for the Little Fox, he was running as he had been stung.  When he got home, breathless and weeping, he jumped to his mother knees and said in the most desperate manner ‘Mummy! Why didn’t you tell me that growing up might be so cruel?’. ‘There-there, honey’ - she responded in a tender voice stroking on his head, - ‘everything’s going to be all right with you. You’ll understand’.