A mouse was lying under a bush, blinking sleepily into the sun.  Then a dry leaf fell on it. Startled, it jumped up and ran away.

She ran past a fox.

“Hey, why are you running like that?” he asked.

“Something has fallen from the sky, it could hit you too!” shouted the mouse.

The fox got scared too and ran off.

The two of them ran past the wolf.

“Hey, why are you running like that?”

“Something has fallen from the sky, it could hit you too!” shouted the mouse.

Now the wolf got scared and ran off too.

The three of them ran and ran past the bear.

“Hey, why are you running like that?”

“Something's fallen from the sky, it could hit you too!” shouted the mouse.

Startled, the bear ran after the others.

They ran until they came to a cave. They crawled inside and listened to see if anything fell from the sky, but it was quiet outside.

“It's best we stay together,” said the bear, “if something falls from the sky again, we can defend ourselves better.”

The others agreed. So they lived together all summer and fall and collected honey for the winter. When three pots were full, they put them in a good hiding place.

When it started to snow, the fox got bored and craved honey. But how could he lick the honey without the others noticing? One day he said: “I have to leave today, I have to go to a baptism. So he went straight from the cave to the honey barrels and licked one of them clean.

When he came back, the others asked: “What was the child's name?”

“First pot,” said the fox. “That's a funny name,” said the others.

Soon after, the fox was in the mood for honey again. “I have to go to a baptism again,” he said, walked away, licked the second pot and said the child was called “Second Pot”.

Not long afterwards, he said: “I have to go to the christening for the third time”, walked away and emptied the last pot of honey.

When he came back, the bear, the wolf and the mouse asked: “What was the child's name?”

“Third pot,” said the fox, and the others wondered about the strange name.

When the animals went to fetch some honey after a while, they realized that all the pots were empty.

The mouse saw the fox's tracks on the ground and squeaked: “That was the fox!”

“Shut up,” said the fox and tried to grab the mouse. But the mouse jumped up and ran away. The bear and the wolf, however, had heard everything and called out: “Just wait, you honey thief!” The fox jumped away too, followed by the bear and the wolf. They soon caught up with the fox and he felt the bear's paws and the wolf's teeth.

But the mouse ran and ran until she came to her bush. She laid down under it and rested from her adventure. Since that day, bear and wolf, fox and mouse have no longer lived together.

Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: M. Preindlsberger-Mrazovic,Bosnische Volksmärchen, Innsbruck 1905, unter dem Titel «Das Füchslein», englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung