The Fisher Wolf and the Fox
Once upon a time, in a forest where silver streams flowed and snowy trees reached up to the sky, there lived a cunning fox and a naive wolf. In the middle of winter, when the freezing winds blew, all the food in the forest ran out and the animals were left alone with hunger. The cunning fox, who overcame every difficulty with its intelligence, at once plotted a sneaky plan to fill its belly. While it was walking cheerfully by the lake, it met a helpless wolf that had not had a single bite for days. When the wolf saw the delicious fish in the fox's hands, it came near the fox excitedly and looked at them with envy. With curious eyes, the wolf asked the fox how it had caught so many fish in the freezing cold. With a sly smile, the fox claimed that catching fish was not as difficult a task as it was thought to be.
It advised the wolf to open a small hole in the frozen surface of the lake and to plunge its long tail into the water. It deceived the wolf by saying that the longer it kept its tail in the water, the more fish would get caught on it. The naive wolf believed these sweet words of the fox at once and ran to the middle of the frozen lake. Scratching the hard ice with its claws, it slowly let its long and furry tail down into the small hole it had opened. While it waited patiently in the freezing frost of the night, it began to feel a slight weight and an ache in its tail. The wretched wolf, who thought that the heaviness was fish caught on the line, dreamed inwardly of a delicious feast. Yet the freezing water of the lake was mercilessly trapping the wolf's tail inside a block of ice.
With the first light of morning the cunning fox came to the edge of the lake and watched the helpless state of the wolf from afar. The wolf tried excitedly to pull its tail up, but it could not move, because the frozen lake had trapped it completely. The sneaky fox announced it to the villagers nearby and, by shouting, directed the hunters who woke from their winter sleep to the lake. Hearing the voices of the approaching hunters, the wolf, filled with terror, leapt forward with all its strength for dear life. Leaving its tail behind in the ice, it barely saved its life and fled into the depths of the forest and disappeared. Those who trust the sweet words of others without thinking pay a heavy price for their own ignorance. He who falls by his own fault does not cry.