The Fox and His Ways

There was once a fox who took a liking to the easier things in life. He always thought he could find an effortless way to get a task done. While his friends worked hard and long hours, the fox would always do the smallest amount of work and pretend to have done his best with whatever task he was given. One day the elders sent him and his friends on a task to find a rare fruit, and whoever could bring some back for the elders to taste would be noted as the bravest man in town. Early on, the fox and his friends encountered a fork in the road, and were a little troubled about which path to take. There were two signs, one read “Hard and tired-some road, but will lead you to your destination”, as the other read “ Shortcut road full of surprises.” The fox said to his friends, “Why go through the trouble of the hard and tired-some road, let’s take the short cut. Plus it’s full of surprises.” His friends weren’t afraid of a little challenge and took the other road, and they were even lucky enough to find the rare fruit in abundance to bring some back. They were going to be the talk of town. Meanwhile the fox took the shortcut, which was full of surprises. It led him to a path where a giant snake laid, and the poor thing was eaten by the snake and never to be found again.

The lesson learned from the misfortune of the poor fox -Do not be afraid of hard tasks and tough roads, as they build character. The only way for life to get easier as you go through your journey is to face it head on and not look for shortcuts-