Welcome to the Fox Tales series. The Four Fox Cubs is a folktale from Pakistan where the four fox cubs learn a lesson about the importance of knowing and befriending neighbors for help and protection.
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Transcript
There was once a family of foxes who lived in the woods. There was a mother fox, a father fox, and four baby fox cubs. The cubs were named Arjan, Surjan, Ganji and Bulbul.
One day, the daddy fox said to his four cubs, “I must go out to work and I may be gone for many days. You must promise me that you will be good and do what your mother tells you while I am gone.”
The fox cubs all agreed to do as their mother instructed. And when it was time for their father to leave, the cubs all gathered at the door and waved goodbye and wished him luck on his journey.
Several days passed in which the cubs played and did their chores and behaved as their father had instructed.
Children, do you do as your parents tell you to?
That’s awesome! You must always listen to your parents.
But one day, mother fox realized that the cupboards were all empty of food and she would have to go to the market.
She warned her young cubs, “I must go out to the market to get food, but I cannot take you with me as it is too dangerous and I cannot look after you alone in the market. You must stay here at home. Even though I do not like to leave you, but at least here you will be safe.”
Children, what precautions do you suggest the fox cubs should take while their mother is away?
Those are good precautions.
The mother fox was very worried and thought about how best to protect her cubs for the short while she would be at the market.
Then eventually she said: ‘You must keep the door locked the whole time that I am gone, and you must only open the door when I return.’
The youngest of the cubs asked, “Mummy, how will we know that it is you at the door?”
The mother replied, “I shall call out your names like so ... Arjan, Surjan, Ganji, and Bulbul, open the door! And you will recognize my voice and let me in. Do not open the door for anyone else.”
Then the mother fox went off to the market and the cubs continued to play games at home, making sure to keep the door locked and kept reminding each other not to open the door unless they heard their names being called.
Children, what do you think will happen in the story next?
Let’s see
The children kept the door locked for sure.
But there was a very sneaky and very greedy lion who was walking close by. And the lion had heard everything that the mother had said to her young cubs.
The sneaky lion thought to himself, “Aha! I can go to the house where the cubs live, I can stand by the door and I can call out ... "Arjan, Surjan, Ganji, and Bulbul, open the door!" They will not know that it is me. They will think that I am the mother fox and they will open the door and let me in and then I will eat them all up! yum, yum, yum!”
So, the sneaky lion crept up to the door of the house where the cubs lived, took a very big breath, and called out, “Arjan, Surjan, Ganji, and Bulbul, open the door!”
When the young cubs heard the call they thought, “That is very strange. Those are our names being called, but that does not sound like our mother. What shall we do?”
Arjan, Surjan, Ganji, and Bulbul grew very scared, very scared indeed, because they were not sure whether to open the door or not, and they wished that their father and mother were at home to protect them.
Fortunately, the cubs had very good neighbours. They had monkeys, other fox families, squirrels, owls, etc. in their neighbourhood.They all lived together happily, helping and caring for each other.
Everyone knew that one of the monkeys was very brave and very strong.
When the fox family who lived closest to the cubs heard the lion calling out, they became alert and hurriedly went to the brave monkey, for they knew he would be able to chase away the lion somehow.
They asked him, “Monkey, monkey, what shall we do? That lion is going to eat those little fox cubs while their mother and father are away!”
“Do not worry,” said the brave monkey, “I shall protect the little cubs from the lion.”
Without losing any time, the monkey searched the forest floor until he found a big, heavy branch.
The monkey stuck the lion with that heavy branch from behind as the lion was waiting excitedly at the door of fox cubs.
Whack! Whack, whack, went the monkey, with the big heavy branch.
The lion was taken aback. He got very scared. The brave monkey chased the lion back to his den and out of the forest.
The fox cubs were peeping out of the window with big smiles on their faces.
The baby fox and exclaimed, “Three cheers for the brave monkey!”
Everyone yelled, “ Hip-hip-hurray! Hip-hip-hurray! Hip-hip-hurray!”
When the mother fox and the father fox both returned home they were very grateful to the brave monkey and to the other foxes for protecting their cubs while they were away.
And that was the day that young Arjan, Surjan, Ganji, and Bulbul learned a valuable lesson indeed.
The young cubs learned that it is very important to know your neighbours and be kind to them because they will always look after you in return, and will offer help when you need it most.
