|| A Norwegian fairytale ||
Once upon a time Reynard the Fox and Bruin the Bear went into partnership and lived in a house together.
You know what the reason was?
Well, Reynard the fox knew that Bruin the bear had a beehive full of honeycomb, and that was what he wanted. So the sly fox kept close in hope of having the sweet honey. But Bruin kept so close a guard upon his honey that Reynard didn’t know how to get away from him and get hold of the honey.
He thought a lot and one fine day hatched a good plan.
He said to Bruin, “Partner, one of my cousins gave birth to a young one. I have to go and be a godfather. I take your leave. Pray keep the house in order till I return”
“Why, certainly,” said Bruin. So off Reynard wandered off into the woods, not too far and waited for Bruin to leave the house.
During the day Bruin the bear cleaned the house and stepped outside to lie down under the sun. The ground was soft and the sun was warm and he soon dozed off.
Reynard, who was watching this from a distance, waited until Bruin was deep in sleep and he crept back to the house. Once inside, he uncovered the beehive and had such a feast of honey. He then went in the wood and lay down in the sun himself for it was autumn and chilly and the sun was warm and comfortable.
Then at the end of day, he went back to Bruin, who asked him what name had been given to the child. Reynard had forgotten all about the story he had spun earlier could only say, “Just-Begun.”
“What a funny name,” said Bruin, “What did he look like?”
“Oh, he was sweet and nice”, said Reynard.
A few days later, Reynard thought he would like another feast of honey. So he told Bruin that his cousin had another kid and that he was required to go. And off he went. And when he came back and Bruin asked him what was the name given to the child, Reynard said, “Oh, his name is Half-Eaten. He was brown and sweet”
The third time the same thing occurred, and this time Reynard described the non-existent fox baby, “Oh, this one was named All-Gone. He was wonderful! One could never get enough of him!” You can guess why.
A short time afterwards, Bruin thought he would like to eat up some of his honey and asked Reynard to come and join him in the feast.
When they got to the beehive, Bruin was so surprised to find that there was no honey left, and he turned round to Reynard and said, “Just-Begun, Half-Eaten, All-Gone. So that is what you meant. You have eaten my honey.”
“Why no,” said Reynard. “How could that be?” I have never stirred from your side except when I went serving as godfather, and then I was far away from here.
They continued to fight over who had eaten the honey.
Reynard said, “You must have eaten the honey yourself, perhaps when you were asleep. At any rate we can easily tell. Let us lie down here in the sunshine, and if either of us has eaten the honey, the sun will soon sweat it out of us.”
Bruin thought the idea seemed reasonable. At least he has nothing to worry as he had not eaten the honey.
No sooner said than done, and the two lay side by side in the sunshine. It was warm and pleasant.
Soon Bruin started to doze. Reynard took the last of the leftover honey from the hive and smeared it round Bruin’s snout. Then he woke him up and said, “See, the honey is oozing out of your snout. You must have eaten it when you were asleep.”
Poor Bruin was confused, but he was not as smart as Reynard. So he thought that is what must have happened and let the matter slide.
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