Week 7 Story: The Fox and His Family

There once was a fox family who lived in the woods. Tod was the youngest member of the family. He had a mother, a father, an older sister, and a big brother. 

One night they were sleeping in their home, and they woke up because they smelled burning wood. They came out of their burrow and saw that the entire forest around them was in flames. They were very scared and had to create a quick plan to get to safety. So, they decided the best place to go was to the watering hole.

Tod's father told the family, "Follow me to the watering hole, quickly." When they reached the watering hole, they were relieved but exhausted from running. It was extremely crowded at the watering hole because many other animals had the same plan as the fox family, so the fox family looked for a less crowded spot to lay down and relax. 

Looking around at her exhausted family, mother asked, “Where’s Tod?” They began to worry that maybe he got lost or didn’t make it to the watering hole at all. Immediately, they all jumped up and began searching through the hoard of animals hoping to find him.

Tod was lost and wandering around the watering hole when he saw a little calf and a small tiger standing next to one another. They looked about his size and his age, so he decided to go up and talk to them. Tod introduced himself, and they all got to know each other. They told Tod they were brothers.

The tiger explained to Tod, “We met in the woods one day, and we were both on our own. Neither one of us knew our families, so we decided to be each other’s family!” The calf nodded in agreement and said, “Yep and we’ve been brothers ever since. Want to be brothers with us?” Tod smiled and said, “I actually lost my family too, but I know they are around here somewhere. And I already have two siblings, but we could ALL be a family! After we play we can go find my mom and ask her about it!”

They were having so much fun playing together, until the Tod’s mother interrupted. “TOD! Why did you wander off like that? I cannot believe you would do that. Do you know how worried we were?” Tod said to his mom, “I’m sorry mom...But come meet my new friends!”

After being introduced to them, she asked, “Where are your parents? I bet they are worried about you two with all this chaos going on.” Then, the tiger and calf explained to her that neither one of them had families. Tod’s mother felt terrible for these orphans, so of course right then she invited the boys into their family. “Come on let’s go back to father, brother, and sister. They will be excited to see that I found Tod and our two new family members!”

They all became one big, happy family! YAY! 

The end. J

Author's note: 

I used two stories from the Tibetan Folk Tale's Unit to make my story: "The Tiger and the Frog" and "How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit". The first folk tale inspired me to write a story involving various animals of different species and how the different species can still understand each other and communicate. The second folk tale inspired my characters for the story. I used a fox, a tiger, and a calf in my story because I wanted to use the same characters as the original story. I wanted to make a story with a happy ending because many of the stories from this unit were a little disturbing and involved death. I hope you like it!

Image Information: Wild Fox. Wikimedia.
Story source: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).