THE BLUE FOX

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Many years ago, there was a dense forest

in which lived many small and big animals.
On one side of the forest ran a river and on
the other was a village. There was enough
food in the forest. Yet some small animals
from the forest would often go to the
village in search of food. The villagers had
small neat gardens in which they grew lots
of vegetables. Animals like the fox or the
jackal would steal those vegetables, as
these vegetables they found in the forest.
Some villagers did not mind as they had
enough food. But there were some
villagers who were getting angry with
these wild animals since they worked hard
to maintain their vegetable garden. One
day a fox went to the village in search of

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food. He entered a garden which looked
very beautiful. The garden owner had kept
two big dogs to drive away wild animals.
They kept a watch over the garden at night.
As the fox entered the garden they started
barking. The fox got frightened on hearing
the barks. He started to run. He ran through
the fences into another garden, then
another, then another, then another. He did
not see where he was going but kept
running. He entered the garden of a dyer. A
big tub of blue dye was lying in the garden.
A fox fell into the tub. When the dogs
could not find the fox they went away. The
dogs were gone. They did not find the fox.
The fox stayed in the tub until he was sure
the dogs were gone. Then he slowly came
out of the tub. He had got such a fright that
he went straight back to the forest. As he
entered the forest he met his old friend, the
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jackal. But he ran away when he saw the
fox. He met other animals but everyone ran
away when they saw him. He did not
understand why they were all running
away. He became sad and went to the other
side. In the river water he saw his own
reflection. It did not look like him. He was
blue all over. He looked like a strange
animal. He now understood why everyone
ran away. They were all afraid of this
strange animal who looked like nothing
like they had ever seen in the forest before.
The fox got an idea. He went to his old
friend the monkey and said, “ Hey you, do
you know me?” The monkey shook his
head saying he did not. “ I am the king of
the forest. I have been sent by God to take
care of you. It is your duty to obey me. I
want you to call all the animals in the
forest for a meeting. “ Please call everyone.
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I want all animals big and small,’’ said the
fox. The monkey went to the animals with
the message. Some were curious, others
were afraid. All animals came to the
meeting. Even the lion and the elephant
came. The fox had already chosen the
ground for the meeting. There was a
broken tree trunk on the ground. The fox
sat high up on the tree trunk. All the
animals sat around the tree trunk. It was a
hot day. They preferred to sit in the shade.
Everyone stared at the fox with
amazement. The fox was a good speaker.
He charmed everyone with his words, and
made them believe that he was sent by God
to be the king of the forest. Even the lion
agreed that he was fit to be the king. The
lion declared, “ From today onwards
everyone must respect the new king. He is
indeed like none of us.’’ All the animal
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agreed with the lion. They cheered for their
new king. They bowed down and promised
to obey his commands. The blue fox was
really happy. The animals decided to
celebrate the great event. The animals
presented their new king with gifts. Food
was brought in by various animals. They
were having a great party. Suddenly it
started thundering and there was lightning
in the sky. Then it began to rain. The blue
fox knew that rain would wash away the
blue colour so he tried to run away. But
before he could do that the heavy rain
drenched him. The colour washed away.
Everyone stared at their king! He looked
exactly like the naughty little fox they all
knew. The lion pounced at the fox and he
ran for his life.