The Owl, The Badger, and The Gray Fox

A short story about how a fox comes out on top.

The Owl, a swift hunter with eyes that could see in the night as if it were daytime, surveys the surrounding dark field looking for any kind of a slight shifting of weeds or tall grass to let it know of a potential meal. The Owl spots a badger off in the distance sniffing the ground, heavily intent on tracking down what left the scent. Then, the Owl spots a rabbit in the direction the Badger is heading in and immediately takes to wing from its perch in a tree. Letting the warm pockets of the nighttime air lift it high into an angle, the Owl thrusts its talons forward, it swoops down into a dive and steals away the rabbit in its sharp grasp and then returns to its perch. Triumphant in its catch, the Owl gorges its self on its prey when the Badger comes trotting up to the base of the tree.

"You stole that rabbit from me!" growled the Badger.

"Yes, well it would appear that you were just to slow to catch it on your own," said the Owl, "go and find you a mouse or a squirrel,"

"Mice and squirrels both are too small and scrawny. I'd rather eat the rabbits. They are nice and plump," said the Badger.

"As would I. This field is just teeming with them and I will pluck them up as they pop out of their little burrows in the night," said the Owl.

"Not if I eat them all first!" Said the greedy Badger.

"You are far too slow to catch them in the night like I can. Go off now and leave me be," said the Owl dismissively, returning to his meal.

"How about I come up there and eat you then?!" but, tried as he might, the Badger could not claw his way up the tree. Each attempt saw him dig his huge front claws into the trunk of the tree but his hind legs were just too short and feeble to lift his girth off the ground. The Badger had no problem digging out rabbits from their burrows. His powerful forelegs and huge claws were perfect for unearthing his meals after he sniffed them out to their holes. For all his strength though, his bulk was just to much for reaching vertical places. But, he tried and tried and to show for all of his effort was nothing but a scarred tree, splinters in his paws, and a snooty owl laughing at him.

"I don't mean to interrupt but I may have a solution to your problem," said the Gray Fox, laying on a lower limb of the tree. The Badger and the Owl were startled to see the Gray Fox was there the whole time and they didn't even notice him.

"The solution would be to eat you," said the Badger.

"I have no doubt you would do that my angry friend and that is why I'm staying up here," said the Gray Fox.

"Well, what is you solution then?" said the Owl impatienly,

"Let this field be yours at night and let the Badger have it in the day," said the Gray Fox, "Its so obvious that you can catch the rabbits when they come out at night to forage for food way before the Badger has a chance too. And, you Badger, can just dig them out in the day when they go back in their dens to sleep."

"Fine by me! I'll eat all of the rabbits and you, Owl, will starve and have to move on," said the Badger, before storming off into the night.

"I rather like that idea," said the Owl, and he flutters off and disappears into the darkness.

The Gray Fox yawns and tucks his head under his bushy tail falling asleep.

So, for weeks and weeks the competition between the Owl and the Badger warred on. The Owl hunted at night and scooped up the unsuspecting rabbits as they nibbled on stalks of grass and the Badger bored his way into their dens and gobbled them up in the day. The two animals were eating so many deliciously plump rabbits that as the weeks rolled on, they were becoming scarce. The Badger had to resort to mice and he would go for long periods of time searching for rabbits before he became hungry enough to hunt for the small, puny vermin. The Owl hunted the scrawny, gangly squirrels but no matter how many they both ate the mice and squirrels, they were never full or satisfied. They both were getting desperate.

The Gray Fox observed the entire game between the Owl and the Badger, content to just sit back and watch and to nap...conserving his strength so he to wouldn't starve.

One particular night the Badger was sniffing the trail of a rabbit and stumbled upon the Gray Fox lounging on a fallen log, "What are you doing here?"

"I see you broke your agreement with the Owl, hunting at night and all," said the Gray Fox casually licking a forepaw.

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of mice and I just thought If I stole a rabbit just this once the Owl wouldn't notice," said the Badger.

"Well, it just so happens you have found the last rabbit den in the entire field. Better get the fat thing before the Owl shows up," said the Gray Fox.

Frothing at the mouth at the thought of eating the last rabbit, the Badger sledges through the tiny hole and descends into the ground and out of sight.

The Owl swoops down out of the black sky, "what is going on here?"

"I have found the last rabbit den in all of the field and I think the little thing is about to pop out any moment now. You don't want to miss your chance to eat the last rabbit do you?" said the Gray Fox. The owl hovers in the air and waiting to clutch up his prize.

Scraping and scratching echo from the hole just as the Badger pokes his head out, "There aint no rabbit down..."

The owl attacks the Badger immediatetly just as his snout breaches the opening. Growling and grunting, the Badge launches himself out of the hole and he and the Owl scuffle. The Badger pins down the Owl, gnashing at the bird's wings and the Owl pecked at the eyes of the Badger. They fought and fought until both were too injured to go on. The Owl hobbled on the ground holding its wing out which was clearly broken. The Badger growled and grumbled as he pawed at his eyes, unable to see.

"You see, the rabbits just so happened to be my favorite, as well. And, you two were my only competition for them. So, the only real solution was to have you two eat them all up until there were no more," said Gray Fox.

Neither the Owl nor the Badger had a reply. They both were too tired and injured.

"So, I tricked you both into eating all of the rabbits and then into fighting each other. It was quite a fun game, really. All that's left to do now is just to eat you two. I am really quite hungry, you know,"

The Gray fox gets up and stalks toward the Owl. The Owl hobbles and tries to fly away but can't because of its broken wing. In a flurry of feathers, the Gray Fox devours the Owl. Then, the Gray Fox cautiously and stealthily approaches the Badger who is still wondering blindly about, pawing its eyes. In one well aimed bite to the throat, The Gray Fox finishes off the Badger.

After weeks of feeding on the brawny Badger, the Gray Fox is able to hunt for rabbits again. In all that time, the rabbit population bounced back and was replenished again. Now, there is only one very fat Gray Fox with an entire field of rabbits all to himself....

Reviews

[SteveTarasev]

Aesop's fables for sociopaths! Hahaha. Still a good parable none-the-less.