Grandma stories for the young
Once there was a wily fox. He approached a hen and asked her to plow the land along with him so that they could get a good harvest. The hen agreed. She got up early and plowed the field. The fox did not show up and gave excuses that a relative had died and it had gone to visit the family. The hen continued with the work of planting seeds, removing weeds, watering the saplings and shooing the birds, away from the ripening crop. Each time, the fox had a lame excuse.
source - sayee
Time passed quickly. The crops were now ripe and the hen did not expect the fox to turn up for work, anymore. She harvested the crop. She then separated the grains and dried the hay. She piled the hay. She then set out to dry the grains and took it to the rice mill and got a few sacks of rice in return for her hard work. She also powdered some of the rice and kept it aside in the form of rice flour. One day, she decided to make a sweet dish from it. After she prepared rice halwa, she sat down to eat it when the fox appeared, suddenly.
The fox had put on it's meanest look and its mouth was watering, thinking of the great meal of both chicken and the sweet. The hen had seen the fox approach and flew to the top of the hay pile, taking the piece of halwa too. The fox said that it had played a prank and meant no harm. The hen replied that the fox had not contributed to even one day of labor and that it had no right to any share of the food. She also said that she was not fond of liars and lazy people who ate off others. The fox returned with its head down with shame, only to be kicked out of its house by the wife who did not like the lazy husband. The fox went off to other lands, searching for others, to fool.
The hen meanwhile had become an expert farmer and helped those who wanted to learn to farm.
This is a story I made up and used to tell my son when he was a small boy. Hope you liked it.
©sayee