The Fox and the Lantern

It is winter, and the nights are long. A fox takes the woodcutter's lantern to his den. He is proud. The hedgehog falls into a ditch. The owl hits a branch. The fox does not share. After three nights the light feels small. Then the oil is finished, and the den is dark. The fox brings the lantern back to the woodcutter. "It was thirsty," the man says. He fills it and hangs it at the crossroads. All winter the fox sits under it with the others.