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37Aesop's Fables  

The too fat Fox and the Tortoise

By Nicky Grischotti

A bitter wind blew the last leaves 

from the trees as Fox made his way 

across the fields in search of food.

The lake had been frozen for weeks 

and the livestock were tucked up 

safe and warm in the farmer's win-ter barns. Fox couldn ' t remember 

when he had last eaten. His skinny 

ribs stuck through his patchy, 

moth-eaten coat, his teeth chat-tered and the hard frosty ground 

hurt his paws as he walked.

'Not a chicken, not a bird, not a 

puny little rabbit…not a scrap of 

food for a fox to eat…I shall surely 

die of cold and hunger,' he mut-tered miserably as he huddled up 

against a gnarled old tree trunk for 

shelter.

Earlier that morning, not far from 

where our Fox was crouching, Mrs 

Tom Cobbler was busy fussing 

around her husband and shooing 

him out of the farmhouse.

'Here's yer shopping list Mr Tom 

Cobbler - one nice, juicy leg of 

pork, 2 kilos of potatoes, half a bag 

of carrots, 2 onions and some big, 

firm cooking apples for our Sunday 

lunch. Now don’t you go forgetting 

anything Mr Tom Cobbler. You’re 

the most forgetful man I ever 

knew!' and she waved a dishcloth 

at him.

'Yars, Mrs Tom Cobbler…er I mean… 

no dear, I won’t forget. ' And he 

stuffed the shopping list in his trou-ser pocket and walked off to mar ket.

It was a long, cold walk to market 

and it was a long, hard walk back 

with his rucksack full of his wife's 

Sunday shopping.

Mr Tom Cobbler decided to sit down 

for a moment 's rest beside a tree.  

(The very tree our Mr Fox was 

going to huddle close too later on.)

After his rest and before he set off 

down the lane he looked about for 

a place to hide his shopping bag 

and saw a hollow in the tree trunk.

'Ah, that 'll do, he said . 'T hat'll keep 

it safe from foxes – that hole 's far 

too small for a plump ol' fox to 

climb through .'  And off he tramped 

up the hill towards the farmyard.

Well…what a nice surprise for our 

Mr Fox crouching beside that very 

same tree later that morning. His 

sly foxy nose began to twitch…and 

he sniffed the cold wintry air…there 

was a whiff of FOOD nearby! And it 

seemed to be coming from the hol-low of the very tree he sat against.  

And because he was so very 

starved and thin – our TOO THIN 

MR FOX was able to slip easily 

through into the hole. And what 

did he find inside? That 's right! All 

Mrs Tom Cobbler's Sunday dinner!

And what did he do with it? That's 

right! He gobbled it all up , lickity-quick. 

And he felt very full indeed…SO 

full in fact that our TOO THIN FOX 

had become TOO FAT FOX in a 

matter of ten minutes flat! Too fat 

in fact to fit back through the hole.

So our Mr Fox had to wait and wait 

for days and days until his plump 

little tummy turned thin once 

more…and he could climb back out 

through the hole of the tree again 

and off in search of food.

Which just goes to show – that if 

you wait long enough – the prob-lem might go away.

And what happened to old Mr Tom 

Cobbler that day?

Well, Mrs Tom Cobbler wasn ' t happy 

at all that he'd lost the Sunday 

roast - so he had turnip soup and 

potato peel pie instead!