THE FOX'S TALE

A long time ago, when the world was just beginning, there lived a very tricky prankster known as Frisky Fox. Now, Frisky Fox loved playing jokes on his best friend, Ready Raccoon. Frisky Fox had a long tail, good for gripping things.

One day when Ready Raccoon was down by the stream fishing , and washing his paws, Frisky Fox decided to steal Ready Raccoon’s fish that he had caught . As soon as Ready Raccoon was looking away, Frisky Fox swiped Ready Raccoon’s fish with his long tail, and ran away. Right as Ready Raccoon noticed that his fish were missing he caught a glimpse of a long, slender tail trailing away in the distance behind a bramble bush. He knew exactly who stole his fish. Frisky Fox.

The next day when Frisky Fox and Ready Raccoon met up at the stream. Ready Raccoon coyly greeted his friend, “Hey ya, Frisky Fox! So, ya know how ya always play tricks on me?”

“Yeah! They’re great aren’t they?” Answered Frisky Fox.

“Of course they are,” replied Ready Raccoon. He continued, “But, everyone can fool me, I am just too foolish to notice. A real prankster could do such better pranks than on me. Take Witty Weasel for example. Now that’s a great prankster! He once stole a whole honey pot right under the watchful nose of Boss Bear. Now that was somethin’!”

“Witty Weasel?!” Frisky Fox said feeling full of hubris. “That oaf couldn’t do half the pranks I can do!”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say any thing,” Ready Raccoon pried. “But if ya lookin’ to out do Witty Weasel, I might just have the best prank ever. But itta require the best prankster in the whole forest ta pull it off.”

“Yes!” Frisky Fox said excitedly. “I’m the best prankster in the forest. I can out prank anybody. What is the prank?”

“I was thinking’ ya should play a big one on King Cougar!” Said Ready Raccoon. “Ya know that silly sheepskin blanket he always sleeps with? The greatest prankster in the forest would be able to steal that right out from under him while he sleeps!”

“Yeah! All right then, I’ll go and pay a visit to ol’ fluffbutt!” Frisky Fox said confidently, for King Cougar did not have a glorious tail like himself, it was a stubby like all the other cats of the forest, like the lynx and the bobcat.

So, Frisky Fox Climbed up the mountain using his tail to pull himself up, until he reached King Cougar’s cave. Frisky Fox snuck in and saw King Cougar asleep curled up with his sheepskin blanket. Using his tail he reached over to grab the blanket, when suddenly King Cougar awoke! Seeing Frisky Fox’s tail above him King Cougar grabbed a hold of it with his razor sharp claws, and ripped half of it off, lickety split! Filled with pain and agony, Frisky Fox fled from the cave as fast as he could leaving a trail of blood behind him. As Frisky Fox raced down the hill, he could hear King Cougar following him. He needed to stop this blood or else there would be no place for him to hide that King Cougar could not track him. He frantically made his way back to the stream hoping to lose King Cougar and wash his bloody tail. At the stream he saw his friend, Ready Raccoon washing his paws for supper.

“Oh, my friend, Ready Raccoon!” sobbed Frisky Fox. “Please help me! King Cougar has ripped off half of my glorious tail, and it won’t stop bleeding!

Ready Raccoon, feeling remorse for fooling his friend into going to King Cougar said, “I will only telly you how to stop the bleeding, if you promise to stop playing jokes on me.”

“Okay, okay!” plead Frisky Fox frantically. “I promise not to play anymore jokes!”

“Use the fluff of a cattail,” Ready Raccoon advised. “Make a big enough bandage for your bleeding tail. Wrap it around the tail, and it will stop the bleeding.

Frisky Fox quickly did as he was told, making a bandage from the cattail fluff big enough for his bleeding tail. Soon the bleeding from Frisky Fox’s tail had stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, the fluff from the cattail stuck onto Frisky Fox’s tail, making it a very fluffy and bushy tail that was stained blood red with a white tip at the end. 

After this incident Frisky Fox never visited King Cougar again. He kept his promise, and didn’t play anymore jokes on Ready Raccoon. King Cougar from that day on, proudly prowled the forest with the captured tail, which he sewed onto his own stubby tail, making all the bobcats and lynxes very envious of his long tail.

And that is how the fox’s bushy red tail came to be.

This was a project for Ambree's class that we worked on together. She came up with the general story wanting to write about how the fox got its tail. Her original piece had it where King Cougar made the fox's tail longer. I help her get to the idea of the cattail fluff.