𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑

      The story begins with one hut located on the edge of the village, next to the river. In this house lived one peasant woman, a red fox named Fiona. She had neither children nor a husband. She was completely alone and everyone respected her, but they were afraid of her. Even though she lived alone, she had everything she needed. A solid roof over your head, a large farm, many wild and common animals for livestock, an apiary with bees and a large vegetable garden. She had it all, but she had no one to share it all with, and she lives completely alone and many try to avoid her. And no one is interested in her and does not want to get married. One day she was writing a letter to her father, sitting at the table, using parchment and a quill and ink. — Dear daddy, I live well. Everyone is afraid of me. — she just wrote, but didn’t write further. She stopped at this moment, put her right elbow on the table, and put her head on her right palm, as if on a pillow, out of boredom. Then she added with a sigh out of sadness: — I live bad. Everyone is afraid of me... Okay, I’ll go feed the hens and cockerels or something. The fox took the bag of grain and went to the chicken coop, pouring the contents into wooden troughs, where all the chickens and cockerels usually come to peck the grain. She was just starting to get enough sleep when suddenly she heard someone crying. At first she thought it might have been her imagination, but over time the crying became louder and louder. Having finished feeding the stupid birds, the fox decided to check who was crying so loudly and who had offended whom? Following the source of the sound, she came to a wooden bridge over the river, where fishermen usually fish. The sound came from under the bridge. There was a small basket stuck between two stones under a wooden bridge, and in the basket was a baby. Taking a very long stick, Fiona hooked it onto the handle of the basket and pulled it towards her. She then lifted the contents onto the bridge. Looking inside, she saw the baby. It was a red fox. So small and defenseless, and his eyes are red. Apparently he cried them all out while floating down the river. When the baby himself saw the fox, he suddenly stopped crying. — Wow! — that’s all she could say and took him in her arms and began to examine him. — Where did you come from, baby! After looking around the baby, she noticed that it was not just a fox. He had two tails instead of one. Maybe this is not a simple baby, but a mutant? But is it his fault that he was born this way? Where are his real parents, it’s not clear? Maybe they died somewhere out there and only managed to save their child, sending him along the river, right here at the very last moment? Or maybe his parents themselves hated him the way he was born and this is how they got rid of him? Unfortunately this is impossible to know. In any case, the baby calmed down when he saw Fiona and even reached out with his little hands towards her. The fox felt sorry for the baby and decided to keep him for now. Only for a while, until the real parents are found. Perhaps they are still alive and looking for him? For about a month, the baby lived with a lonely fox, who was no longer alone with him. With him, at least she could share all her wealth and not be greedy. Of course, she did not forget that perhaps somewhere his real relatives are alive and looking for him. So she took some parchments, wrote a notice about the missing baby, and even clearly depicted his appearance, including his two tails. Not all ad copies actually looked the same and exactly copied each other. After all, there were no typewriters and computers then. Everything had to be written several times in your own hand, which began to get boring for some, especially lazy people and Mobians. Having posted all the advertisements both throughout the village and on some trees in the forests, not forgetting to leave her exact address, she began to wait, and for the time being she herself took care of the baby and raised him. Every day she fed him very healthy goat milk from a domestic goat and semolina porridge, and also washed him his rag and the linen with which he was wrapped in that same basket. She waited for long days and nights, but no one came to her. Apparently his parents either hated him or died. Then Fiona decided that the baby would live with her. Moreover, she herself has already become attached to him and no longer wants to give him to anyone. The only downside is that she didn't know his real name. Then Fiona decided to give him a new name herself. She decided to name him "Tails", from the English word for "Tails", in honor of the fact that he has two tails. So what if he has two tails instead of one? She heard that two are even better than one. So luckily there may be two tails.

***

      Several years pass and little Tails managed to grow up during this time; he had long forgotten about his past as a baby and did not want to remember, and he now considers Fiona his real mother. Living with her, he began to help her around the house and with housework, also feeding and caring for livestock, as well as gardens with crops. Fortunately, they lived somewhere in a very hot country, where winter almost never came and cold with snow was the rarest occurrence. Therefore, the supply of food and crops did not end and it was possible to collect every day, even ad infinitum. And only if you take good care of your gardens with fruit and berry bushes and trees. Fiona, like a real mother, continued to love the little fox, still seeing him as the same defenseless baby, take care of him, sometimes help him, and read him every night and even composed bedtime stories for him, about great warriors and defenders of villages and kingdoms, namely, about brave peasants and brave knights who bravely fought and hunted the most terrible forest monsters, half Mobians, half snakes, who sometimes attacked some villages and ate their inhabitants. Many Mobians and people called these monsters nagas. She talked about how these brave heroes fought against these monsters, defeated them and saved the lives of many innocent villagers. The baby, of course, listened carefully to his adoptive mother before falling asleep. He even imagined somehow, instead of these heroes and himself, how he would also hunt or fight with these vile nagas. And one night before going to bed, he decided that in the future, when he grows up, he will become the protector of this village and a hunter of nagas.

***

One morning, before the roosters throughout the village had time to wake up before everyone else and crow to wake up all the owners, the boy with two tails woke up, ran to his Fiona’s bedroom, climbed onto the bed and began jumping on the bed, trying to wake up his mother. — I have to go to school, mom. Get up, get up! Went to school! I want to go to school! — Dad, I don’t want to go to school, I’m already an adult. — she said through her sleep. — Mom, wake up. Let's go to school! — Tails continued to try to wake up his mother. — I don’t want to go to school, I’ll sleep for a couple more minutes. — Fiona made an excuse and continued to lie there. — Not for you, mom, but for me. Well, get up! I'm going to school for the first time. — the boy took his shoulders and began to shake. — Okay, okay, I'm getting up. — the fox answers, getting out of bed, opening its mouth, yawning and stretching its arms to the sides. Then she suddenly widened her eyes. — Stop! Do you want to go to school? — the boy nodded. — No, are you really sure that you want it right now? If you don't want to, then we can't go for now. Let's wait another year or two, or better yet three. — No, no, no, I want it right now. I'm very curious and want to know about everything. I'm this, what's his name... — Prodigy? — Fiona asked smiling. — Exactly! That's who I am and that's why I want you to accompany me. — Okay, wash, have breakfast, get dressed and let's go. — said the fox, spreading out her bed and went with her son to the washbasin with water. Just like every day, they first washed their hands, face, nose, ears and eyes. Fiona then made two eggs and ham for breakfast. And then, as usual, she divided the scrambled eggs and ham into two halves. She put one half on her plate, and the other on the plate of her adopted, but still beloved son. She even managed to forget that she found him simply and that he was adopted and she herself believed that he was her own son, and he thought the same about her. After breakfast, as the fox promised, she went with the fox, holding hands, straight to the village, where there was a large, two-story house, where children often came to study. This house was a kind of school at that time. Having walked Tails there, his mother pointed him to that same house and told him how to get home the other way. At first, when the school principal and teacher saw the fox Fiona, they were afraid of her, remembering the chaos she had caused in their school and what bad things she had done. This is what she used, by the way. She threatened to burn their school to the ground if there were hooligans in the school who dared to bully and offend her son. They made a promise that they would not allow this to happen and Tails would still study with them, despite the fact that he has two tails. Afterwards, Fiona kissed her son on the forehead and went to her home, while the little fox stayed at school. Strangely enough, they kept their promise. The rest of the students at school, despite the fact that the newcomer had two tails, paid almost no attention to him and simply wrote down assigned tasks in notebooks. Since Tails did not have a notebook, he simply listened carefully, memorized and then repeated out loud what the teacher said. The little fox turned out to be capable of learning. Having received an excellent grade, the little fox returned home with a smile on his face and even boasted to his mother about his grade. At the same time, there is no need to go to school the next day, because as homework they were asked to take a basket each and all together, in a group, under the supervision of the teacher herself, go into the forest and pick mushrooms.

***

      The next day, Tails took his basket and headed to school. After waiting for the rest of the students to arrive, the whole group, together with the teacher, went into the forest to look for and collect mushrooms. — Stay closer to each other and don’t fall behind. You can very easily get lost in the forest if you fall behind or move too far away from us, looking for mushrooms somewhere behind the trees. — says the teacher. After walking several miles along the yellow sand path, all the students dispersed not far from the teacher around and began to look for mushrooms. Tails moved a little further, hoping to find and collect as many mushrooms as possible, and more of them. The two-tailed man goes and collects various mushrooms. From white ones with brown hats, to red and soft ones, which are also called chanterelles. There were also fly agarics with red polka dot caps, but he didn’t take them. He immediately knew, thanks to the teacher’s lectures, which she told yesterday about various types of mushrooms, that mushrooms such as fly agaric, although beautiful, are unfortunately poisonous. He heard the sound of falling water and went out behind the bushes to the source of the sound. It turns out it was a small stream whose water slowly flowed from a spring. And further beyond the spring there were more mushrooms, but he hasn’t collected enough yet. So he crossed the river and went further to collect more. Walking straight along the trail of mushrooms on the grass, he had already collected a full basket and was preparing to return to his people. Suddenly, an ordinary squirrel ran past, inspecting Tails' basket, took one extra mushroom, whose hole was covered by an extra acorn, took it along with the acorn and ran away. — Hey! Stop! — grinning at the funny squirrel, he ran after her to return the stolen mushroom. The squirrel seemed funny to him, but on the other hand, it was such impudence that she stole one extra mushroom from him. The fox ran after her all the way, past trees and stones. When she ran to a large oak tree and hid in a hollow, the squirrel took the acorn out of the hole in the mushroom cap, and threw the mushroom itself with the holey cap back. Tails caught it and put it back in the basket. — Thanks. You were already driving me. — he added, as if she understood him and was about to turn back. Only now, while he was running after the squirrel, he apparently ran very far and fell behind his people. He got lost in the forest and even he doesn’t know where to look for the way to the village now, because he left the village for the first time, finding himself in the forest and he himself knows little about these places. The little fox tried to call for help: — HE-E-EY!!! HE-E-EY!!! HUMANS!!! MOBIANS!!! GOODS!!! IS ANYBODY HERE??? I LOST!!! A-A-AU-U-U!!! But no one responded to him. Either no one heard him, or there is no one. He had to stay in place, next to that same oak tree and wait until perhaps someone noticed that he was missing and would not look for him. He at least hoped so, because he didn’t want to risk screaming for too long and losing his voice. Only he didn’t know that at that time all the students had also already picked all the mushrooms and went back with the teacher, after which they parted and the students immediately went home to treat their parents to mushrooms, and the teacher promised to give them all grades in a couple of days . Unfortunately, neither the teacher nor classmates noticed the loss, and they did not know that any of them were missing. And the little fox waited and waited. The tummy began to growl and grumble from hunger and asked for food. There was nothing to do. I had to snack on raw mushrooms for now. Having taken a couple of porcini mushrooms, he only ate them for now and didn’t eat any more. He waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Without waiting, he was tired of the fact that no one was looking for him. Maybe no one loves him and doesn’t even want to look for him, that they forgot about him on purpose. They didn’t even try to call him when he moved too far away from everyone. Taking his basket, he went where his eyes were looking. Through a path that led somewhere into the darkness. Of course, he was afraid of the dark, but there was nowhere else to go. You will have to overcome your fear and move forward, no matter what. He walked and walked, straight and straight, until he came to a path that led straight high to some semblance of a mountain or hill. At the top of that very mountain or hill there seemed to be a cave. The little fox thought that he could, in principle, climb to the very top and from there look around where his village was, so that he would know exactly where to go to return home. And after thinking this over with himself, the kid walked up the path. He didn’t even suspect that someone big and scary was watching him from behind, hiding behind the trees. Scary and red eyes shone from the darkness, looking at the fox and an eerie hissing could be heard. — “What did this little guy forget in the forest?... And even all alone... Did he really get lost?...” The monster sticks out its huge and clawed black paw, hoping to grab it by its two tails and drag it towards itself. However, a beautiful butterfly flew by, which had wings of seven colors of the rainbow. She sat right on the monster’s palm, but the monster did not scare her away or jerk his hand so that she would fly away. The red eyes immediately bulged, looking first at the butterfly and then at the baby. The butterfly itself turned its small and almost imperceptible muzzle towards the monster. She seemed to be looking straight at him and seemed to be making pleading eyes, trying to say: — "Please! Dont touch him!" Then she herself flew away, and the monster, looking at the flying butterfly and how the little fox continued to climb the hill, slowly hid his hand back. The baby himself was still walking slowly and was in no hurry to get anywhere. For one thing he looked around. The trees around the entire forest were so big and quite beautiful. And most importantly, they were not as scary as they seemed in that kind of tunnel. Now he had already climbed to the very top, stood near the cave and began to look around. So far, apart from trees, as well as a couple of oaks and mountains in the distance, he saw nothing. It seemed to him that he had probably gone too far, that now he would never find his way home. The unfortunate man had already begun to despair and was ready to cry, especially thinking how his mother was doing? She's probably already worried about him and wondering why he doesn't come back to her? But suddenly he draws attention to a large mountain, on which there were several waterfalls and, apparently, this water flowed into a river, which was located close to his village. Noticing a slot between the trees, where the very river was probably located, he examined it and noticed a large slot in the form of a circle, although he could not see the village because of the trees, he immediately guessed that it was there. — Here she is! — the little fox was happy, pointing his finger there. Now he knew exactly where he had to go to return home. Now all he had to do was go down and go to where he saw that circle-shaped slot. The main thing is to always go forward, in that direction, and not turn anywhere. Running down and stopping at the very bottom in front of the entrance to the same tunnel of trees that covered the sky, he took a breath, and then moved on. But the further path was blocked by some huge stone. He didn't remember how he got here. When he tried to push and move it, but it did not give in, suddenly the stone moved sharply and the little fox thought that someone giggled, and then said: — Sh-sch-sch-sch-ticklish! — someone said in a scary voice. The little fox slowly raised his head and saw two glowing red eyes. The creature appears to be very huge. Although the trees hid the light, the little fox was still able to clearly see the silhouette of the creature. He had sharp claws on the thumbs of his huge hands, all his fur was black, like his scales. And there was also a long tail with spruce noticeable dark red stripes. The boy immediately realized what kind of creature was now standing in front of him and he was already scared that at first he stood like a statue in place in a state of shock. But when he began to walk away, he began to stutter: — Nananananananananananana... NA-A-A-AGA-A-A-A!!! — he shouted at the top of his lungs and ran in the opposite direction, again climbing the hill. He ran away so quickly that he dropped the basket of mushrooms. — No, no, no, stop! Wait! — the monster said calmly, but the boy did not listen to him and continued to run. Twintails himself ran back to the top of the hill and came up with nothing but to hide in that large cave. He ran forward and forward, trying not to stop or look back. Running inside, he found himself in a semblance of a home. Only here everything was huge, as if a giant lived here. Without thinking twice, he ran to the bed and hid under it. He hid there and trembled with fear. He was very scared, because he did not expect to meet a naga alive right now. And unfortunately, he is not prepared for defense and fight. Therefore, it will not be possible to fight back. Judging by the shadows from the light of the sun that came from the door, he noticed that that monster followed him here. — “Holy Chaos, please, I don’t want to die! If only he didn’t find me.” — Hey!... Baby!... Where are you? — the monster called him, but the kid tried not to give himself away. The nag immediately began sniffing to find it. The smell led under the bed, but he did not crawl there completely. — Get out. I know you're there. — No. I'm not here. — the little fox accidentally said out loud and covered his mouth, realizing that he had given himself away in vain. The monster understood that he would not get out of there so easily. — Okay, since there’s no one here, I guess I’ll go. — he said and crawled to the side, although the shadow gave the impression that he was on his way out. Heaving a heavy sigh of relief, the baby crawls out from under the bed and suddenly something lightly grabs him around the waist. When Tails realized that it was a naga's tail, it was too late to run, for he grabbed it. The monster brought the baby closer to him, and the latter quickly closed his eyes so as not to see all the horror and screamed in panic: — A-A-A-A!!! PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!! I'M STILL TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!! — Quietly, boy. Calm down! I'm not going to eat you. — said the monster. The little fox opened only his right eye and looked at the naga a little fearfully. Now he could see it completely in the light. It was a huge half hedgehog, half snake. The fur of the upper body was black, as was the scaly snake body. There were red stripes on the tail. The red eyes no longer glowed so terribly thanks to the white whites under the eyes. And the monster himself, judging by his calm face, was not at all dangerous. That's for sure. Only the smile was a little embarrassing with his fangs and long tongue. The creature extends its right hand towards him. Tails closes his eyes again, afraid that he will tear him apart with his bare hands. However, he was holding his basket of mushrooms in that hand. — You dropped it. Don't lose anymore! — he politely asked the baby. He saw his basket and fearfully took it in his hands. And then he said shyly: — Uh-uh... Tha-a-a-a-a... Nks-s-s-s. The snake released the baby, placing him on the floor and removing his tail. The little fox had already chosen to quickly run away from the cave, but the nag suddenly stood at the exit and the little fox slowed down, afraid that he was not letting him leave. — Are you leaving already?... You just came to visit me? — M-m-m... I... I'm very glad that you are so hospitable, Mister... — Shadow. — Naga introduced himself. — Mr. Shadow... I am grateful that you are hospitable and... Helped me return my basket... But... I don’t have time... I still need to return to my mother. - here, by the way, he wasn’t lying, while he stumbled a little when communicating with him. Shadow grinned. — Why are you so afraid of me? Or were you scared that I was so huge? Well, let me lie down and be lower than you? - he suggested and lay down with his huge head in front of him. — P-p-p-p-please! Won't you eat me? — the little fox asked timidly. — Don't be afraid. At first I wanted to eat you. — he explained and the little fox took a couple of steps back. — But the lucky butterfly of fate smiled at you and forbade me to hunt you. Mother Nature herself told me through her that you must live. I have always respected the laws of nature and lived by its rules. Now I will never be able to eat you. — R... Really? — Tails asked incredulously. — I am not your enemy, but your friend. — Friend? — And I won’t harm you. You understand me? — Shadow asked and after a minute of silence, the little fox nodded in response, although he was still afraid of him and did not trust him. — Fine. Then let's get acquainted. My name is Shadow, what's your name? — he asked, extended his outstretched right little finger so that he would take the claw of his little finger with his hand and shake it instead of his hand. — M-m-m-m-my mom... Forbids me to talk to strangers and creatures. — the little fox says shyly. — This is right. You should always listen to your mother. But I'm an acquaintance. I didn’t eat you, and then I introduced myself to you twice. So you can trust me. — said Shadow. — Shadow, are you home? — someone else's voice was heard. — Oh no! — Shadow was frightened and pointed the fox with the index finger of his right hand to the bed. — Hurry up and don’t make a sound! Without arguing with him, he ran away and hid under the bed again. Shadow then stood up, and another naga entered the cave, looking like a scorpion with a sharp tip on its tail. It was half scorpion, half snake, a healthy one with muscles and muscles, a little taller than Shadow. Its fur and scales were dark purple. He looked around and asked: — Hello, Shadow. Who were you talking to here? — With no one. — Shadow lied. — Well, I heard your voice and how you introduced yourself to someone here. — So I was talking to myself. I am practicing saying hello to strangers humans. — Hu... Mans? — the scorpion asked, raising his right eyebrow. — Luz, don't be angry! What are you doing here anyway? —- the hedgehog asked. — Yes, I was just crawling past and let me, I think, look at you. You're almost like a brother to me, after all. — Listen, Luz, I don’t have food at home right now. I'll go hunting again for now, but for now I'm resting. Better come in the evening at sunset! — asked Shadow. — Okay, whatever you say. — At first the scorpion wanted to agree and leave, but he sniffed and smelled the smell of a fox cub. — Oh! What does this smell like? Game? — Little fox. — Is it true? And where he? — Luz asked, and Shadow stroked his stomach in response, lying that he supposedly ate it. — Oh you! If only you could share it with me, you greedy fellow! — Sorry, I thought that I needed food more than you. You are still stronger than me, and more than me. — the hedgehog excused himself. — Okay! I'll come see you after sunset. — said Luz and before crawling away, he said: — You know what I think about you, Shadow. You are a disgrace to the entire Naga race. — Not true. We have already discussed this. I just know how to respect the laws of nature, but you don’t always respect them. Sooner or later, the lucky butterfly of fate will turn away from you. — Yes, just let him dare. I’ll gobble it up right away too. When the scorpanaga crawled away, the little fox crawled out from under the bed and was in shock. — You?... You saved me? — What about it? I couldn't allow someone else to eat you. Our forest is very dangerous, because creatures like us live here. True, there are very few of us left lately, because people and Mobians began to act, hunt us and exterminate us all to the last, until our entire race goes extinct following the dinosaurs. — Shadow explained and imagined all this in his mind in such a way that he held back tears. — For the first time in my life I see a naga crying. — Tails said to herself in surprise. — There’s no shame in crying if you’re in pain... For example, in your soul. — he explained and wiped his tears, stopping crying. — So. Let's go first. My name is Shadow, what's your name? — he asked and extended his little finger. This time the little fox was no longer afraid of him and extended his hand, taking the monster by the claw. — Tails.

***

      Shadow told the fox many stories about the nagas, who used to be a peaceful people and lived almost in harmony among people and Mobians. However, evil ones began to appear among the nagas, who attacked villages and ate their inhabitants. This was the reason why people and Mobians decided to resist and hunt the nagas in the forest. Tails listened to him carefully and began to rethink his priorities. If he previously thought that in the future when he would grow up and become a naga hunter, now after what Shadow himself told him, he already doubts that he wants to become such in the future. After all, then he will also have to hunt Shadow himself. What if there are also good nagas in the world, like Shadow himself, who do not want to attack anyone and eat? It was almost sunset and Tails remembered that it was time for him to return home. — It's time for me to go home. My mom is already worried. — he said. — Don't worry! I'll walk you home. — said the naked hedgehog and put the baby on his right shoulder. And he crawled forward, to where the little fox told him to go.

***

      Shadow accompanied the little fox home, as promised, and only extended his palm from behind the trees so as not to appear in front of the villagers. — Continue on your own! I don't want to scare your people. — said the naked man and was about to leave. — Wait! - Tails stopped the naga and he stopped. — Will we see each other again? — Anything is possible. I myself will hope. — the naked hedgehog said goodbye and crawled into the forest. Then he went home himself and returned home, and Fiona at that time was not even worried. For the day has not yet come to an end. When he returned, his mother was glad to see him and hugged him. Tails wanted to tell his mom about what happened to him in the forest today. However, if he tells, then either she will not believe him, or she will be scared and forbid him to go into the forest in the future. But he seemed to have made friends with such a great and not so terrible friend, with whom he had just begun to get along well. Then he decided to simply say that he had been looking for mushrooms for a long time and accidentally fell behind his own, and then he also ran after the squirrel, since she took away one extra mushroom. And only then did he decide to go back, but it took a long time to return, as he was still tired along the way. Oddly enough, she believed it. From the collected mushrooms, the mother prepared mushroom soup for dinner. The dinner was very tasty, but sometimes Tails looked out the window and thought about that hedgehog. How is he doing?