Translation:The High Mountains/21

Mrs Fox decided to pay a visit to the community. As strangers had come, how can she not go and welcome them?

So she left her den to come over. She counted the huts: one, two, three... five... eight.

“Well! she said, what a big place!”

She approached and examined them, one by one, up close. Then she cocked her ear and listened carefully.

Only the breathing of the inhabitants was to be heard. It was past midnight and they were sleeping deeply. This is the hour that the fox makes her rounds.

She walked very slowly, politely so as not to wake anyone up. She saw the corner kitchen under the pine tree, she noticed the big cooking pot which was shining clean, she saw the ladle in its place, she even saw the mop.

“Everything is in its place, she said, let's have a look at the henhouse as well. See if it's well stocked?” As soon as she'd got two hens in her mouth, she recognised them. “These hens, she said, come from the Small Village!”

Until then the community hadn't thought about looking after their property. Their shops were open. No cupboards, no drawers anywhere; not even a key.

But the fox didn't find that normal. A city must have a guard.

She appointed herself to the position, and she did a good job. Who else would have been able to do it?

Maybe the pine marten or perhaps the weasel? But they weren't suitable for such a post. “They're deceitful!” said the fox.