The Jealous Fox and the Wolf
Long ago, in the heart of a shady forest with cool waters, there lived a strong wolf. Every morning this wolf went out to hunt, and he cheerfully ate the fresh food he had won with his own strength. But a jealous fox, hidden behind the bushes, secretly could not bear the peaceful days of the wolf. The fox wanted to own the tastiest morsels without any effort of his own, and he watched the wolf constantly from afar. One autumn morning, when the eye of the fox fell on the large and delicious piece the wolf had caught, the fire of jealousy inside him blazed up. The sly fox came up beside the wolf with a sweet smile and tried to seem friendly to him.
“My dear neighbor, does this dry piece of meat suit a majestic wolf like you at all?” he asked. The wolf raised his head and looked at the cunning fox with suspicious eyes, but he said nothing. The fox at once pointed to the deep pit behind him and went on with his words excitedly. “At the bottom of that pit there is a huge feast that the hunters dropped, go and take it all for yourself!” he said. In truth the fox was planning for the wolf to enter that narrow pit, to be caught in the trap and to leave the food to him. When the wise wolf saw the sly gleam in the eyes of the fox, he understood his intention at once.
“Since there is such a great feast down there, as a neighborly right you go first,” said the wolf in a calm voice. Thinking that the wolf had not noticed the trap, the fox, full of the greed inside him, did not know what to do. Blinded by his jealousy, the fox leaped impatiently into the pit to snatch all the food. But when he reached the bottom, instead of tasty meat, the heavy iron lid the hunters had set closed over him. While the wailing fox looked out from behind the bars, the wolf slowly went on eating his own share. The wolf looked at his neighbor caught in the trap and quietly disappeared into the depths of the forest. Those who cannot bear the success and the fortune of another are doomed to fall into the traps they set themselves. He who envies ends in disappointment.