Foreign and Chinese Folk Tale Appreciation Dictionary (Set of Two Volumes)

Author: Ren Rongrong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: That day the weather was very cold, and the sky was gloomy. Reynard the Fox sat at home staring blankly at the empty shelves. Madame Emoulin sat in her armchair, shaking her head sadly. "We have nothing left," she suddenly said, "We have no food in the house." "The little ones are coming back hungry, they're shouting for food. What are we going to do?" "Let's go out and try our luck again," Reynard said, sighing deeply. "But the season is bad, I really don't know where to go." He still went out because he didn't want to see his wife and children crying. He had no choice but to prepare to fight the coming enemy—hunger. He walked slowly along the woods, looking left and right, but couldn't think of any way to find food. He walked until he reached a big road separated by a fence. He sat down dejectedly on the road. The biting wind blew fiercely against his fur, stinging his eyes. He was lost in a daze. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept past, and a tempting scent drifted from the distance. The scent reached Reynard's nose directly. He immediately lifted his head and sniffed hard. "Is it the smell of fish?" he thought, "It's clearly the smell of fresh fish! But where is it coming from?" Reynard leaped forward and landed by the fence beside the road. Not only was his nose keen, but his ears were sharp, and his eyes were especially keen. He noticed a cart rolling far off. There was no doubt that the tempting scent was coming from that cart, because as the cart got closer, he clearly saw that it was full of fish. Indeed, it was a fishmonger going to the nearby city's fish market, with his baskets full of fresh fish. Reynard didn't hesitate for a second. As he was drooling with hunger and eager to eat these fresh fish, a clever idea suddenly flashed through his mind. He lightly leaped over the fence and ran to the other end of the road far from the cart. He lay down in the middle of the road, pretending to have just died. His soft body, with eyes closed and tongue outstretched, looked exactly like a corpse. The fishmongers came to him, stopped their cart, and indeed thought he was dead. "Ah? Is it a fox or a badger?" one of the merchants shouted at the thing lying there. "It's a fox. Get out, get out!" "He's not a good creature. But his fur isn't bad, we can skin him." The two merchants quickly got out of the cart and approached Reynard. At this moment, Reynard's act of pretending to be dead became even more convincing. P6-7