Long time ago, a little hen lived at the edge of a forest colony. She lived all by herself and did all her work on her own. Early in the morning she hunted around for worms in the forest; in the day she cleaned up the house, then she cooked, ate and spent the rest of her time in peace. In short, hers was a happy life. Close by lived a middle-aged fox with his old mother. And, as you can imagine, if the fox was a little elderly, mother fox was quite definitely ancient. One day the fox and his mother had nothing to eat at home. He had been too lazy to go hunting for food for a few days and now he wondered how best to get hold ofsome food without too much exertion. All ofa sudden he remembered the hen. Now the neighbourhood in which the fox and the hen lived, most of the animals adhered to the rule that neighbours should not hunt each other for food. If you belonged to another colony, it was okay. But not if you were part of the same neighbourhood. It was believed to upset neighbourly equations. So far, the fox had not much need for disobeying the injunction, either. But lately, with more and more cutting of trees, the forest had begun to recede, and with it the animals too, had begun to disappear. It was much harder to hunt and the fox was a lazy fellow. So he announced to his mother "I have a plan to catch that irritating hen. I will catch her and put her inside this sack. Place a pot on fire and add water. We will boil her for dinner tonight" Saying so, he crept up to the house of the hen.