Read on line
Listen on line
Main > Ukrainian folktales > Fairy tale "The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox"

The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox

pussy-pussy!

That foxy hussy

Has got me tight

With all her might.

Across her tail

My legs do trail

Along the bridge so stony!”

The cat heard it, and gave chase again. He ran and ran, but this time he couldn’t catch the fox up; so he returned home and wept bitterly, because he was now all alone. At last, however, he dried his tears and got him a little fiddle, a little fiddle-bow, and a big sack, and went to the fox’s hole and began to play:

“Fiddle-de-dee!

The foxy so wee

Had daughters twice two,

And a little son too,

Called Phil.––Fiddle-dee!

Come, foxy, and see

My sweet minstrelsy!”

Then the fox’s daughter said, “Mammy, I’ll go out and see who it is that is playing so nicely!” So out she skipped, but no sooner did pussy see her than he caught hold of her and popped her into his sack. Then he played again:

“Fiddle-de-dee!

The foxy so wee

Had daughters twice two,

And a little son too,

Called Phil.––Fiddle-dee!

Come, foxy, and see

My sweet minstrelsy!”

Then the second daughter skipped out, and pussy caught her by the forehead, and popped her into his sack, and went on playing and singing till he had got all four daughters into his sack, and the little son also.

Then the old fox was left all alone, and she waited and waited, but not one of them came back. At last she said to herself, “I’ll go out and call them home, for the cock is roasting, and the milk pottage is simmering, and ’tis high time we had something to eat.” So out she popped, and the cat pounced upon her, and killed her too. Then he went and drank up all the soup, and gobbled up all the pottage, and then he saw the cock lying on a plate. “Come, shake yourself, cock!” said puss. So the cock shook himself, and got up, and the cat took the cock home, and the dead foxes too. And when they got home they skinned them to make nice beds to lie upon, and lived happily together in peace and plenty. And as they laughed over the joke as a good joke, we may laugh over it too!

Also read
Read
The Stolen Bairn
Category: Scotland folktales
Read times: 40
Read
Read
The Girl-Fish
Category: Spain folktales
Read times: 79