The Fox and the Goat
狐狸與山羊
A thirsty fox tricks a goat into jumping down a dry well with him, then climbs out on the goat's back and abandons him — a story about looking closely before you leap, not just after someone says something sounds good.
The story
Once, in a summer so dry that every stream in the countryside had run bare, a fox wandered a long way without finding a drop of water. His throat ached with thirst. At last, out on a stretch of open ground, he spotted an old well with a little water still pooled at the bottom. He was so thirsty that he never stopped to look how deep it was — he simply jumped straight down and drank his fill.
Only after drinking did the fox lift his head and see how high and slippery the stone walls were. He jumped and scrabbled and turned circles at the bottom, but no matter how many times he tried, he could not climb out.
Just as the fox was growing desperate, a thirsty goat came wandering by. Peering down into the well and spotting the fox below, the goat called out, "Is the water good down there, friend fox?"
An idea flashed into the fox's mind. He hid his troubles at once, put on a look of pure contentment, and said with a cheerful grin, "It's wonderful! Cool and sweet — the best water I've ever tasted. Come on down and have some yourself!" The goat's throat only grew thirstier at the sound of it, and without thinking twice, he leapt straight down into the well.
The goat drank a long, satisfying drink, then lifted his head and looked around at the tall straight walls — and his heart sank. He understood at once that he, too, was now trapped, just like the fox.
But the fox already had a plan ready. "Don't worry," he said. "Here's what we'll do. Put your front hooves against the wall and bend your head down, so your horns point up. Then I'll climb up your back and your horns and get out — and once I'm out, I'll find a way to pull you up too." The goat thought this sounded sensible, so he braced his front hooves against the stones and lowered his head as he was told.
The fox stepped onto the goat's back, then onto his horns, and with one light spring, bounded straight out of the well. He stood at the rim, brushed the dust from his coat, and turned to leave without so much as a glance back. The goat cried out from below, "Friend fox, weren't you going to pull me up too?" The fox only looked back with a sly little smile. "Old fellow," he said, "if you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would have looked before you leapt." And with that, he trotted off without looking back even once.
The goat was left alone at the bottom of the well until the next morning, when a shepherd passing by to draw water found him and hauled him up with a rope. From that day on, whenever the goat had to jump or go somewhere new, he always looked closely first — never again would he leap just because someone made it sound good.
Story takeaway
Never follow someone else's word into something you have not looked at closely yourself — think first, so you don't end up somewhere you cannot easily get back out of.
Talk together
If someone tells you something is "wonderful" and encourages you to join in right away, how could you check for yourself first before deciding?
For grown-ups
Parent note
This story fits well when a child tends to leap into something just because someone else made it sound exciting, without stopping to think it through. To escape the well, the fox hid his own trouble and only praised the water, and the goat jumped in without ever checking how deep the well was or whether he could climb back out. Talk together about pausing to look and think — especially before anything hard to undo — rather than simply going along with an enthusiastic recommendation.
Words to learn
- well: a deep hole dug in the ground to reach water. e.g. The fox jumped into the well without checking how deep it was.
- trapped: unable to get out of a place. e.g. Once he drank the water, the goat realized he was trapped too.
- look before you leap: think carefully and check first, before doing something you cannot take back. e.g. The goat learned to look before he leapt.
Reading activity
Play a little game of "look first, or safe to jump right in" — read a few lines and see if your child can tell which ones need a careful look first, and which are fine to try right away: "Check that no one is at the bottom before going down the slide." → look first, that's safer. "A friend says the pond is shallow, but you've never checked yourself." → too risky, check for yourself first. "Look both ways before crossing the street." → look first, that's safer. "A classmate says a new snack is tasty, and you'd like to try a bite." → a small thing, safe to try. At the end, wonder together: if the goat had peeked into the well first, the way he learned to at the end of the story, would things have turned out differently?
Source information
Aesop · Aesop's Fables, trans. George Fyler Townsend, Project Gutenberg
Public-domain fables and short tales from Project Gutenberg.
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