THE DEER AND THE FOX

Once upon a time there was a forest which now due to the greed of men has been deforested. In this forest lived a Deer and a Fox.
In the storybooks a Fox is almost always known as a cunning and selfish character and Deers as helpful, innocent and loving character. Every day when the fox saw the deer he would think,
" If I could only catch this deer I would enjoy a excellent meal."
But as he could not run as fast as the deer he knew that he would never be able to catch the deer. He then thought of a plan for catching the deer.

He sat on the path frequented by the deer and started crying loudly. As the deer was passing by she heard the loud wailing of the fox, she stopped and asked him," Dear fox! What has happened? Why are you crying?"

The fox replied, " Oh deer! Because of my nature I do not have any friends. I feel all-alone in this world. I feel like jumping into the river to end this miserable life."

The deer feeling sorry for the fox consoled him saying, "Dear fox how will jumping into the river help you? Life is for living and if you live you will surely find a good friend. If you so wish I will be glad to be your friend."

The fox's joy knew no bounds. At long last his dream of making a meal of the deer would succeed. By befriending the deer betrayal would be easier.

The deer and the fox became good friends. They would roam around together in the forest. A crow who lived in the same forest was also a friend of the deer. One day the crow saw the deer with the fox. He was surprised and asked the deer," Hello friend, how are you and who is this with you today.'

The deer said, "Ah! This is a fox. He is a new friend of mine!" The crow on hearing this said, "Dear deer! You should not be a friend to someone unless you know him or her very very well." The deer was confused. The cunning fox immediately said, " dear crow! How can we know each other well unless we become friends? Did you know the deer before you became her friend?"

Though the clever crow was not convinced about the foxes motive he had no answer to his argument and so he flew away.

One fine day the fox took the deer to a lovely field lush with the growth of wheat. The deer was thrilled to see the enticing food, as the forest fare was mostly grass and bushes. She waded in and ate to her heart's content and enjoyed running around in the big wheat field. Urged on by the fox the friends started going to the field every day and caused a lot of damage to the crop. A farmer, the owner of the field, was naturally annoyed and angry. He spread a net hidden by the wheat crop to trap the animals that had been causing damage to his fields and destroying his crop.

The next day the deer was caught in the net after she had entered the field. The fox was happy to see this as he had finally succeeded in trapping the deer. Instead of helping his friend he went away and hid himself behind a tree, waiting for the deer to die or be killed by the farmer.

The crow, which flew all around the forest and the fields had not seen the two friends that day, and as far as his sharp eyes went did not see them anywhere.  Knowing where they went everyday he flew to the field and saw the trapped deer amongst the wheat crop. The crow hopped close to his friend and said,' Dear friend Do not worry. Be quite and pretend to be dead. As soon as you hear me cawing, get up and run away as fast as you can!'

After a little while the farmer came to the field to tend to his crop and saw the deer trapped in the net. Seeing the deer so still he thought that it was dead and he slowly removed the net so as to carry the deer home. Instantaneously the crow started cawing," Caw…  Caw…. Caw.. “The deer got up and ran as fast as she could. The farmer was surprised to see the deer running away and threw the heavy stick he was carrying at the deer.

In the mean time the fox seeing his scheme go up in smoke came out and started chasing the deer. The stick instead of hitting the deer hit the fox on the head and killed him on the spot.

The deer whilst running away looked up and thanked thee crow, who was flying along over the deer for saving her life.

CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WITH CARE!