Grimm's Household Tales

The wolf had the fox with him, and whatever the wolf wished, the fox was compelled to do, for he was the weaker, and he would gladly have been rid of his master. Once, as they were going through the forest, the wolf said, “Red-fox, get me something to eat, or else I will eat you yourself.” Then the fox answered, “I know a farmyard where there are two young lambs. If you are inclined, we will fetch one of them.” That suited the wolf, and they went there, and the fox stole the little lamb, took it to the wolf, and went away. The wolf devoured it but was not satisfied with one; he wanted the other as well and went to get it. Because he did it so awkwardly, however, the mother of the little lamb heard him and began to cry out terribly and to bleat so that the farmer came running there. They found the wolf and beat him so mercilessly that he went to the fox limping and howling. “You have misled me nicely,” he said. “I wanted to fetch the other lamb, and the country folks surprised me and have beaten me to a pulp.” The fox replied, “Why are you such a glutton?”

The next day they again went into the country, and the greedy wolf once more said, “Red-fox, get me something to eat, or I will eat you yourself.” Then the fox answered, “I know a farmhouse where the wife is baking pancakes tonight. We will get some of them for ourselves.” They went there, and the fox slipped around the house and peeped and sniffed about until he discovered where the dish was, and then he drew down six pancakes and carried them to the wolf. “There is something for you to eat,” he said to him, and then went his way. The wolf swallowed the pancakes in an instant and said, “They make one want more,” and he went there and tore the whole dish down so that it broke in pieces. This made such a great noise that the woman came out, and when she saw the wolf, she called the people, who hurried there and beat him as long as their sticks would hold together, until, with two lame legs and howling loudly, he got back to the fox in the forest. “How abominably you have misled me!” he cried. “The peasants caught me and tanned my hide for me.” But the fox replied, “Why are you such a glutton?”

On the third day, when they were out together and the wolf could only limp along painfully, he again said, “Red-fox, get me something to eat, or I will eat you yourself.” The fox answered, “I know a man who has been slaughtering, and the salted meat is lying in a barrel in the cellar. We will get that.” The wolf said, “I will go when you do, so that you can help me if I am not able to get away.” “I am willing,” said the fox, and he showed him the byways and paths by which at length they reached the cellar. There was meat in abundance, and the wolf attacked it instantly and thought, “There is plenty of time before I need to stop!” The fox liked it also but looked about everywhere and often ran to the hole by which they had come in and tried whether his body was still thin enough to slip through it. The wolf said, “Dear fox, tell me why you are running here and there so much and jumping in and out.”

“I must see that no one is coming,” replied the crafty fellow. “Don’t eat too much!” Then the wolf said, “I will not leave until the barrel is empty.” In the meantime the farmer, who had heard the noise of the fox’s jumping, came into the cellar. When the fox saw him, he was out of the hole at one bound. The wolf wanted to follow him, but he had made himself so fat with eating that he could no longer get through and stuck fast. Then the farmer came with a cudgel and struck him dead, but the fox bounded into the forest, glad to be rid of the old glutton.