Once upon a time, there was a fox who wanted to play a trick on his neighbor, the stork.
“Would you like to come over for dinner?” the fox asked one morning.
The stork was very surprised because the fox had never been friendly before, but she happily accepted the invitation. The fox looked well-fed, so he was probably good at cooking.
Throughout the day, the stork occasionally caught a delightful scent of the soup that the fox was preparing. And by the time the stork finally knocked on the fox’s door, she was very hungry – exactly what the fox had hoped for.
“Please, enjoy the meal,” said the cunning fox as he served the soup in two shallow bowls. It was, of course, no problem for the fox to lap up the delicious soup, but since the stork could only dip the tip of her beak into the soup, she didn’t get a single drop!
“Mmm, that was delicious,” said the fox after slurping up the entire bowl. “I can see you don’t have much of an appetite, so I’ll eat yours too.”
The poor stork went home starving and decided to take revenge on the sly fox who had behaved so badly. Already the following week, she went to visit the fox.
“Thank you for the lovely dinner last week,” said the stork. “I’d like to return the favor by inviting you to dinner tonight.”
The fox was a bit suspicious that the stork wanted to see him again, but he couldn’t imagine that the stork was capable of tricking him. After all, foxes were known for their cunning, and not many had succeeded in outsmarting him until now.
All day long, the fox looked forward to the dinner, and by evening, he was very hungry. On his way to the stork’s home, he caught the scent of a delicious fish stew and began licking his lips.
But to the fox’s great disappointment, the stork served the dish in tall, narrow jars. The stork could easily reach the food with her long beak, but the fox had to settle for licking the rim of the jar and smelling the lovely food. The fox had to grudgingly admit that he had been tricked – and he went home crestfallen without having eaten anything!
