In a winter forest the nights were long and dark. One evening the fox saw the woodcutter's lantern hanging by his hut. He took it in his teeth and carried it to his den, very proud. Nobody else in the forest had a light of their own.
Meanwhile the other animals stumbled in the dark. The hedgehog rolled into a ditch, the owl bumped into a branch, and the rabbits could not find the way home. The fox heard them from his den, but he would not share.
By the third night, alone in the den, the light felt small. It showed only his own big shadow on the wall. On the fourth night the oil ran out, and the den was darker than ever.
In the morning the ashamed fox carried the cold lantern back and laid it at the woodcutter's feet. The woodcutter said only, "It was thirsty." He filled it with oil and hung it at the crossroads, where all the paths of the forest meet. All winter the fox sat under it with the others, and the hedgehog always moved over to make room.
