46 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
46 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
THE TAIL OF THE BEAR
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Once upon a time there lived a fisherman who earned a living selling fish,
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making his rounds to the customers on a horse-drawn cart loaded with his catch
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of the day.
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One cold winter day, while the fisherman was crossing the woods, a fox
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smelled the fish and began following the cart at a close distance. The
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fisherman kept his trout in long wicker baskets and the sight of the fish made
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the fox's mouth water. The fox, however, was reluctant to jump on the cart to
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steal a fish because the fisherman had a long whip that he cracked from time
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to time to spur on the horse. But the smell of fresh fish was so enticing that
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the fox overcame her fear of the whip, leapt on to the cart and with a quick
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blow of her paw, dropped a wicker basket on the snow. The fisherman did not
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notice anything and continued his journey undisturbed.
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The fox was very happy. She opened the basket and got ready to enjoy her
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meal. She was about to taste the first bite when a bear appeared.
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"Where did you get all that marvellous trout?" the big bear asked with a
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hungry look on its face.
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"I've been fishing," the fox answered, unperturbed.
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"Fishing? How? The lake is frozen over," the bear said, incredulously. "How
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did you manage to fish?"
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The fox was aware that, unless she could get rid of the bear with some kind
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of excuse, she would have had to share her fish. But the only plausible answer
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she could come up with was:
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"I fished with my tail."
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"With your tail?" said the bear, who was even more astonished.
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"Sure, with my tail. I made a hole in the ice, I dropped my tail in the
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water and when I felt a bite I pulled it out and a fish was stuck on its end,"
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the fox told the bear. The bear touched his tail and his mouth began watering.
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He said:
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"Thanks for the tip. I'm going fishing too."
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The lake was not too far away, but the ice was very thick and the bear had
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a hard time making a hole in it. Finally, his long claws got the job done. As
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time went by and evening approached, it got colder and colder. The bear
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shivered but he kept sitting by the hole with his tail in the water. No fish
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had bitten yet.
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The bear was very cold and the water of the lake began freezing again
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around his tail. It was then that the bear felt something like a bite on the
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end of his frozen tail. The bear pulled with all his strength, heard something
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tear and at the same time felt a very sharp pain. He turned around to find out
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what kind of fish he had caught, and right then he realized that his tail,
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trapped in the ice, had been torn off.
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Ever since then, bears have had a little stump instead of a long and thick
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tail.
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