The Fox and the Stone Well

During a dry summer, the animals met beside the old stone well. The water lay far below the reach of any paw or beak. A bucket stood on the rim, but its rope had snapped.

Fox arrived last, carrying no tools.

“I have considered this problem,” he announced. “The solution is simple. We need a longer rope.”

“We know,” said Hare. “Have you brought one?”

“A solution is not a delivery service.”

Fox seated himself in the shade. For a handful of berries, he would advise the others on their efforts.

Squirrel suggested tying vines together. Fox warned that green vines might stretch. Badger proposed climbing down. Fox observed that getting out would be difficult. Crow offered to drop stones into the well to raise the water. Fox calculated that this would take a very long time.

Each warning was sensible. By noon, nobody had tried anything, and Fox had eaten all the berries.

Then Mouse appeared with a length of thread.

“That will not hold the bucket,” Fox said.

“No,” Mouse agreed. “It will hold this.”

She tied a nut shell to the thread and lowered it into the well. When she pulled it up, it held a few drops. She drank one and offered the shell to Hare.

Fox laughed. “At that rate, we shall still be thirsty in autumn.”

Mouse returned to the well. This time she let Squirrel have the water. Soon the others began looking for containers. Crow found a broken eggshell. Hare brought a curled piece of bark. Badger uncovered a clay cup left by travelers long ago.

The thread would not lift the cup, so Squirrel fetched a vine. It stretched, just as Fox had predicted, but two vines twisted together stretched less. Hare added strips from an abandoned sack. Badger rubbed the rough edge of the well with a smooth stone so it would not cut their makeshift cord.

By evening they could raise the cup. It spilled on the way up and took patience to lower, but everyone drank.

Fox rose from the shade. “Of course,” he said. “This is exactly the direction I recommended.”

Mouse looked at his empty paws. “Then you can help us finish.”

They asked him to hold the cord while Badger moved the bucket into place. Fox found the cord heavier than he expected. It rubbed against his pads. When he loosened his grip to complain, Crow shouted and he caught it just in time.

Together they secured the bucket. The first full measure of water came up at sunset. Fox was too tired to make a speech. He drank, then helped fill the smaller animals’ bowls.

The next morning he returned with strips of leather he had found near the road. He set them beside the well without asking for berries.

When Hare thanked him, Fox almost replied that he had always known where to find good leather. Instead he picked up one end of the rope.

“Show me the knot,” he said.