THE

CRAFTY FOX
On the third day of my journey to the Acadia Forest in Maine, I was cheated by a fox.
That day, I went to a market and bought a seven-pound turkey, decided to have a
barbecue party with my friends.
At dusk, I carried the turkey on my own, along with the beasts footprints of Acadia
Forest, and went back to the campsite. Suddenly, I saw a fox, not far away in front of
me, is dyingits mouth foamed, and its shoulder twitched. It seemed to be poisoned.
The fox tried to run when saw me, but it just stood up in panic and fell down weakly.
It sprawled on the floor, twisted the butterfly-shaped white spot between its eyebrows
with pain, and looked at me in despair.
I can see very clearly that it is an adult male fox, with thick and colorful body hair,
like a piece of red golden satin. I can't control my desire and impulse to catch that fox,
for that valueless fox fur.
I left my turkey under the tree. The turkeys legs and wings are tied with fine hemp
rope, and it can never run away.
Took off my belt and coiled it, I went to the fox which was still lingering. Catching a
dying fox is just a piece of cake.
I lifted my belt and tried to entangle the fox's neck. All of a sudden, the fox turned to
be alive. It straightened up a little bit, got up quickly, and shot out just under my eyes.
I was shocked.
At that moment, the turkey crowed with fear from behind. I turned around quickly and
saw a female fox was biting my turkey. The turkey was tied firmly, and it lost the

ability to defense and escape. It is certainly easier for a female fox to catch my turkey
that way than to drill into the cage.
I bend to pick up a piece of stone, and threw it to the female fox. But it was too late.
The female fox held the turkeys neck in its mouth, and ran away along with the dry
old river channel. While the dying male fox ran around to the other side of the
channel to meet the female fox. They walked side by side, and I guess they would
celebrate for stealing my turkey.
When they were running into the forest, the male fox turned back to me and crowded
its eyes. I don't know whether that is an apology or thanks. I didnt know what to say.
I thought it was my chance to get a fox, however, the foxes got me.
I went back to the campsite, and told Matt sadly what has happened. Matt laughed:
"Those crafty foxes! They dare to play the tricks on you because they knew you are
wet behind the ears!" What he said made me uneasy. I felt that I has been looked
down on.
On the morning of another day, I went to the old channel to cut firewood. I smelt a
stream of bromhidrosis in front of a tree which withered down. I used the wood
chopper to push aside the wormwood. Suddenly, a fox jumped out from a deep hole
inside of the root. With red and white tail, and butterfly-shaped white spot, is it that
male fox who cheated at me and stole my turkey?
The fox fled 20 meters away from me, and fell down like its legs have been stumbled
by the vines. It faced me, slanting its mouth, and hissing over. Seemed like the hind
leg has broken, the male fox span around in situ. It looks as it will be very easy for me

to chop off its head, if I just carried the wood chopper and walked through.
I saw through everything at the first glance that the male fox was repeating that trick.
The male fox wanted to seduce me to catch it. The hole must be its nest, and the
female fox nine times out of ten was still in the hole. At this moment, I just didn't
want to go after the fox. I want the crook to witness the abortion of its deception, to
make it experience the pain of failure. Wouldn't it be a kind of funny revenge?
I sneered to the fox. Rather than chasing the fox, I made two paces closer to the tree
hole, and raised my shiny wood chopper, waiting at the entrance of the cave. As long
as the female foxs head is out, I had a knife to make it beheaded! A turkey for a fox
fur, its a fine deal. The male fox sensed my decision. It limped increasingly severely,
cried with more sadness, and also made a few meters closer to me.
After a while, the male fox probably knew its legerdemain can't cheat me. The fox put
the hanging up hind leg back down, squatting on the ground, looking at me stupefied.
Its eyes looked sad and worried.
Suddenly, the male fox whined hoarsely, leapt to a small tree. Half of its face crashed
on the trunk of the tree, the right side of the face from the eyelids to the chin is
scraped by the rough bark and badly mutilated.
This male fox must be crazy! When I was attracted by its madness, I suddenly heard a
"sou" sound. A figure of red leapt out of the tree hole while I am unprepared. I woke
up, chopped down my knife, and obviously got nothing. I ruefully looked back, its
the female fox. With a ball of something pink, the female fox hurried to the mound
behind the bushes.

The female fox jumped onto the mound, paused for a second, and then spit that pink
thing gently on the ground. I didnt notice the pink thing is a little fox until that time. I
see, there was a group of little fox hiding in the nest in the tree hole! To confirm my
hypothesis, I lay pronely on the ground, pressed my ear close to the entrance of the
hole carefully, and there was some babbling can be heard.
While I was listening to the noise, the male fox cried urgently and maliciously,
jumped desperately, constantly tore the wounds on his face and chest with claws. The
male fox was covered in blood. I understood that the fox wanted to attract my
attention to him. For some reasons, my heart felt acid. I can no longer bear to stay
next to the tree holes. I stood up. The male fox finally became quiet. Bays of being
parents! At that time, there was a growling sound of the female fox from the bushes
behind the mound. The sound seemed to contain a command.
I saw the male foxs ears sticking, listened carefully. All of a sudden, it raised one of
its forelegs, put the knee into its mouth, and bit down hardly. Even I was more than
ten meters away, I can still clearly hear the "click click" sound of its bones. I got
goose bumps all over.
After a while, the male foxs foreleg was dislocated, but the flesh was still connected.
The foreleg hanging in the air, like a wire attached to a piece of lotus root. The male
fox seemed to be afraid that I can't believe it would bite off his leg, it grabbed its
broken foreleg again, ripping, the leg was finally removed like a disassembly parts.
The bones are exposed to the air, the blood projectile to overflow, and wet some parts
of grass in front of the male fox.

I can clearly understood, everything that the male fox had done was still a kind of
deception. It want to cheat me to leave the tree hole by self-injury, to let the female
fox transfer small foxes to a safe place one by one. But in the face of this kind of
deception, although I can see through, I dont have that power to resist or defense. I
think there is something forced me to chase that male fox.
The male fox staggered, tried to escape, dripping with blood all the way along. It is
very difficult for it to get away. For several times, I can just use the chopper to kill it.
But for a reason which even me myself cannot tell, I cant control my wrist to cut
down on the grass instead of on the foxs body. The male fox cry out loud painfully,
struggling, doggedly fled away from the tree hole. I followed closely behind the male
fox. I didnt look back to see the tree hole because I don't need to. I know that, at this
moment, the female fox was nervously transfer their little babies...
Finally, the female fox cries faintly from the bushes, with a gentle tone, like she was
sending a letter of peace. The male fox had that expression of relief on its face. It
adjusted its posture, lifted up its head and straighten up its waist, seemed to want to
end this luring and chasing game, suddenly turned to be alive, flied like the shot into
the bushes to reunion with the female fox and small foxes. But, there is just a jump.
The male fox unexpectedly fell to the ground and never got up.
It bled too much.
It's dead.