Folktale: The Fox's Tongue (Patreon)

This goes right after the final chapter.

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A human child was alone in the woods. A fox found her there. He was hungry, and he had kits to feed back in his den. Four fine kits, the same as the number of his tails.

The girl would be easy to catch. Such children as she were rarely missed.

"Girl, are you lost? Come here, and I will help you." He said it kindly, and she came.

"Your fur looks soft," said she.

"Would you like to touch it?"

She did: she drew nearer still, until her small hands stroked the fur of his shoulder. Her neck was unguarded, and his teeth were sharp in his mouth.

"You're not going to kill me," she said.

"How can you be so sure?" He smiled then. He did not try to make his smile kind; she was already too close to run.

"Because I am going to live," the little girl said. "I've decided, and you won't change my mind."

"You say you will live, as if you've a right to it," the fox said, its lips stretched back from its teeth. "You were born: that is all the more the world will give you. The rest you must take. How much can your hands hold, girl?"

"Everything," she replied.

The fox looked into her eyes. Then he threw back his head, and he laughed. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

When he had done with all his laughter, the girl was still alive, and he was dead.

That is the truth.

From "Kingdom Between the Hills and Other True Tales"