Jean de La Fontaine | France
The Fox and the Turkeys
A clever fox tricks tired turkeys all night, causing them to fall from their tree, and he catches them.
In a big oak tree, there lived a group of turkeys. They used the tree as their safe home, like a castle, to keep away enemies. One day, a hungry fox came by and saw the turkeys high up in the tree.
"How foolish these birds are," the fox said to himself. "They sit up there and think they’re safe from me. I'll show them!"
The turkeys were watching the fox carefully, but the clever fox had lots of tricks. First, he pretended to climb the tree, standing on his back legs as if he could reach them. Then, he acted as though he was dead, lying perfectly still on the ground. Suddenly, he jumped up, as if coming back to life, scaring the turkeys.
The fox didn’t stop there. He made his tail shine in the moonlight, waving it around like it was on fire. He even performed more silly tricks to confuse the turkeys.
The poor turkeys didn’t sleep at all. They kept watching the fox all night, afraid he would find a way to attack. After a while, they grew tired and lost their focus. One by one, they slipped and fell from the tree.
Each time a turkey fell, the fox caught it and set it aside. By the time the night was over, the fox had caught many turkeys. He carried them back to his den, proud of his clever plan.
