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      This story concerns two families that are opposite to each other, but sooner or later they will intersect. There are Mobians and Nagas in our history. Only the nagas are not just half people, half snakes, as usual. These nagas were special. They are half Mobians, half snakes. Ordinary Mobians, as even humans know, are anthropomorphic animals. They behave like people, talk like people and live like people. While the nagas lived in the forest and tried not to bother anyone. Nagi, since they are half animals, they also looked different. If everything is clear with the tails, then the upper part with the torso, head and arms always looked different for everyone, just like ordinary Mobians. For example, someone was a rabbit, someone was a dog, someone was a bird, and so on. Moreover, they were all equal to each other in race, but were divided into two types. Some were predators who could attack other Mobians and eat them, while others, on the contrary, sometimes came to villages not to eat Mobians, but simply to scare them for their own entertainment. But the story that we will tell you about today tells about one little fox who grew up with an evil stepmother, and about two nagas who wanted to have children for themselves, but could not.

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      Once upon a time in a village there lived a family called Prower. This family had an only son, a two-tailed fox named Miles. His nickname was "Tails" because he had two tails. Because of this, he was often teased and made fun of at school. Fortunately, the fox even then had loving parents who loved their son the way he was born. And if someone dares to offend him, they will give him a rag. The boy himself, despite the mockery and ridicule, remained calm, kind and sometimes tried to help everyone. Even those who didn't need it. However, the happiness did not last long. A plague swept through the village and all the inhabitants of the village where the Prowers lived were infected. Some families and their children held on as best they could, trying to fight the disease. Unfortunately, Miles' parents could not cope with the disease. They realized that this might be the end for all of them and their family. Therefore, they decided that they were simply doomed, they could not be saved, and of course they gave up. But suddenly a miracle happened. Plague doctors arrived in the village on their horse-drawn carts. They were named so because they fought against the plague and saved those infected from the plague. They themselves wore wooden masks with bird beaks, gloves and hats. The plague doctors had prepared a cure in advance and managed to save some of the villagers who were still holding out. Even the unfortunate two-tailed fox had a syringe with a healing potion injected into his arm, like a vaccination. However, the boy was the only one who was able to hold out until the plague doctors arrived. Miles' mom and dad died in bed from the plague and did not survive. The plague doctors arrived to the Prower family too late. The boy turned out to be an orphan, and since many in the village hated him and mocked him, no one wanted to take him in and adopt him. No one except one evil stepmother, who was very greedy and lived at home all alone. Not only did she not have children, she didn’t even have a husband. The stepmother was a red fox named Fiona. Miles knew this evil aunt very well and did not want to live with her, because he did not like her. But there was nothing to do. She was the only one who regretted his loss and decided to take him in with her. So there was nowhere to go. Or maybe she pretended to be like that on purpose, because she needed a free cleaner around the house, because she herself was too lazy to clean the house. While the fox Fiona was lying down on the stove and lazing around, enjoying dry gingerbread and drinking kvass, the unfortunate orphan did what he did with all the household chores, every day. By the way, the fox Fiona did not live so poorly. Judging by the fact that her house plot was large and there were many places. Plus a big chicken coop. However, the greedy fox kept everything she had accumulated for herself and ate it all at once, and the baby only got leftovers. Only on rare occasions would she sometimes spoil him with bagels if she tried really hard.

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      And in the forest at that time, two nagas lived in one small house, one of whom was half a snow-white hedgehog, and the other, or rather the other, was half a purple cat. Their names were Silver and Blaze. Unfortunately, they did not have children, but even just the two of them lived quite well. Although, sooner or later, they still dream of someday having a child or several children. By the way, they lived even a little better than the villagers. Every day, for example, the wife went about her business in the kitchen and prepared food for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. Sometimes she went out into the forest to hunt, while her husband did housework and made sure that the house was in order. The snow-white hedgehog was a little tired from work, washed away the dust on the street through the front door with a broom, stretched his back slightly and crawled into the kitchen at the table to rest and refresh himself. He sat at the table and drank tea with bagels. Then his wife Blaze crawled up. She placed a huge blueberry pie on the table. — Just imagine, Silver, I had a funny dream. I dreamed that we would have a guest today. — she said. — What kind of guest, Blaze? No one has visited us for a long time. — sighing sadly, the hedgehog answers. —We don’t even have children. — I know. It makes me sad to think about this. Silver reached out with his hand to the pie, but immediately burned his hand slightly and blew on it. — Be careful, it's hot! Fresh from the oven. — Ugh! Apparently you'll have to wait a very long time for it to cool down. Only you always cook so deliciously that I can’t resist. I don’t even know what to do to distract myself? — he asked his wife. — Let's go scare random passers-by! And when we get home, the pie will cool down. — Okay, let's go. That's what they decided on. Having left their home, the nagas crawled into the forest, scaring random passers-by and foresters.

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On that same day, the unfortunate orphan was already tired of being tormented all day long by the fact that his stepmother did not even help him, but did nothing but lie on the stove all day and chew bells. Ultimately, the boy could not stand such impudence and, freaking out for the first time in his life, decided to speak out about everything. He climbed onto the stove and looked menacingly at his stepmother, and she first looked at him with bulging eyes, and then frowned: — Hey, parasite. Why are not you working? Do you want to stay without dinner? — Without dinner? You always leave me only scraps and lie here all day, and I have to break my back every day and get tired. My parents did not treat me so blatantly. — How dare you talk to me like that in that tone? — Fiona was indignant and wanted to get up to punish the boy. But she was too lazy to get up and raise her hands in order to waste her energy. I've become so lazy that it doesn't work at all. — What will you do to me? You can’t even stand up and there’s no reason to spank me. — Listen! — Fiona shouted sharply, which made the little fox flinch at first, jumping back. When she tried to get up and got up, she took out a whip and, waving it, tried to hit the boy. Fortunately, she did it slowly, so the young man had time to think enough to dodge. — Since you treat me so cruelly, then I will treat you the same way. — he said and lightly pushed her from behind, hitting her with the foot of his right foot on her heel. Fiona could not resist and fell from the stove onto the floor, clean and shiny as a mirror. Then the boy went down, took a bucket of dirty water with which he had previously washed the floor and poured the contents directly on his stepmother as he deserved. — What are you doing? Quite a fool, or what? — she was indignant. — Aren’t you cragoazy? Instead of lying on the stove all day, it would be better if she took it and helped me a long time ago. It would feel a little easier for me, and I wouldn’t be greedy, then my attitude towards you would be different. — Well, now you’re definitely going to get screwed, you bastard. — the red fox got even angrier, stood up and tried to catch him. However, the fox deftly dodged, and the stepmother began to lie: — By the way, I sheltered you, saved you, took pity on you when you found yourself all alone, loved you and fed you all month. — You're lying! You always gave me only scraps and left almost nothing. You never really loved me. You know! I'm tired of enduring all this. Since you treat me like a thing, it means you don’t need me. I’d rather leave home and the village altogether, since no one needs me here at all. At one point, the fox finally grabbed the fox cub and, before getting ready to spank him one place at a time with her palm as punishment, it is not clear why, she replied: — Oh no! You're not going anywhere! Before she had time to strike the child with the first blow, the boy immediately realized that he needed to bite her hand with which she was holding him. He grabbed her skin very painfully with his milky, but still strong teeth. Fiona was in pain, too much so. She began to try to fight him off with her other hand and slap him on the back of the head so that he would stop biting her. However, by doing this she only made it worse and the little fox grabbed it with his teeth even harder, it almost seemed as if he was about to bite off a piece of her skin and tear it off her hand. The teeth are strong and very sharp. Such pain was unbearable. Unable to bear it, the fox let go of the boy and he spat right at her, after which he spoke: — What, evil witch, didn’t expect that I would escape so easily from your vile, fat and dirty hands? She, in turn, held on to the scar left by the fox’s teeth on her hand, cried and almost felt sorry for her own hand. She then cried in pain, but the boy didn’t care anymore, because she didn’t love him, which means he would treat her the same way. He didn’t even care that she hit him on the back of the head a couple of times. Taking a long wooden stick with a large rag and putting the remains of bagels, pies and grapes into it, he folded it all and left the house. — Well, go away, you are not grateful! Chaos gave me such a nasty boy like you! Having run away from the house and from the village itself far, far into the forest, the little fox hid there and finally letting go of his emotions of anger with revenge, he changed his serious face to a sad one and still cried, rubbing the bruised back of his head from the blows of his stepmother. Having calmed down a little and stopped crying from pain, he looked at the village for the last time and waved his hand at it, deciding to go live in the forest. So he goes and goes, he doesn’t know where, but he goes where his eyes were looking. He walked and walked between heaps of trees and cried no longer from pain, but from the fact that his loving and natural parents had abandoned him like that, leaving him in the care of that evil and harmful stepmother. It’s good that he still found the strength to resist her, speak out about everything and leave her. Maybe somewhere here in the forest, he will be able to find happiness for himself, start a new life and maybe build himself a second home. And he will live there all alone, sad and miss his parents. Reflecting on this, he did not even notice how he came to a small clearing, where he saw someone’s house. He was extremely surprised. Does anyone really live in this forest? Maybe some kind forester lives here, a harmless yeti, scary and hungry nagas, or even worse, it’s himself? His silent double lives in that house and is waiting for him to enter the house. However, having cast aside his fears and convinced himself that perhaps a kind forester still lived in the house, he approached the house and knocked like a polite child. — Hello!... Is anyone home?... I'm a little orphan fox, not a thief. Nobody opened the door for him. Maybe he wasn't heard well? He knocked again. — Heygey! Who lives in the little house? Who lives in the high places? The house was still quiet. And again no one opened it. Or maybe they are sleeping soundly there and can’t hear? Then the boy knocked again, but a little louder. Nobody opens. And then again and even louder. The little fox was banging on the door with his hands and feet, already tired and catching his breath. Still no one opened it for him. — Well, what are they there, did they fall asleep or what? — he asks himself, turned his back to the door and began, moving his right leg back, pounding on the door. After about the twenty-fifth knock, he was tired again and catching his breath. Then an idea came to him, what if he opened the door himself. Surely it's not closed? She jumped up to the door handle and, pushing off with her feet from the wall on the side of the door, pulled the handle towards herself. The door gave in and opened outwards. Finally, he was able to go inside the house. — Uh... Hello!... Can I come in? — he asked, not knowing who lives here, but no one answered him. He thought that silence was a sign of consent and walked around the house. First of all, he entered the kitchen, and there was a plate with the remaining two bagels on the table and a large blueberry pie on the table. He smelled the pie and found it delicious. His stomach growled with hunger and begged him to eat that pie. However, the little fox was well-mannered and did not want to take something else from the table without permission. However, he did take the two remaining bagels from the plate and decided to eat them, thinking that maybe someone hadn’t finished eating, and they were lying here drying in vain. Don't let them disappear. Maybe no one will notice that a couple of extra wheels are missing? The boy still wanted to eat. Having snacked on those bagels, he then began to sway a little in his chair. After all, the chair he was sitting on was actually a rocking chair for the elderly. After swinging a little on the table, he got down and went further to inspect the house. He found an easel with white paper and paints in the hallway. He immediately wanted to draw something on this paper, because he had never drawn anything before in his life since he lived with Fiona. Without hesitation, he drew a picture of himself and his parents with smiling faces, hugging each other, and then signed “Mom,” “Dad,” and “Miles” above their heads. He really liked his first drawing and started crying again. But this time from joy, not from pain or grief. Having removed the finished drawing, he began to draw a new drawing on the next sheet. This time he portrayed himself as sad, and next to him on the edge of the paper he drew two stones with earth next to them. He also wrote “Mom” and “Dad” on the stones themselves. Looking at this drawing, he now really cried with grief, again remembering the plague that took his parents away from him. Having calmed down, he also removed this drawing and began to draw the third. On the third, he depicted one plague doctor in a raven mask and hat, who gave him an injection and saved his life. This is exactly what he portrayed. The third drawing only brought hopelessness to Tails, causing him to lower his head and sigh heavily. The fourth drawing he began to draw was a portrait of the red fox herself, Fiona. Under it he signed “Fiona — stepmother.” Looking at this drawing, it aroused only anger in the unfortunate and suffering boy. Out of anger, he dipped his brush in red paint and crossed out this Mobian in the drawing with a red cross, confirming his hatred of her. Unlike the three previous ones, he tore this drawing off the easel, crushed it and threw it towards the trash can, but missed a little and it fell only next to the bin. Having finished painting, he put the paints, brush and glass of water for paints in place and stretched his arms up, yawning. He was really tired today and wanted to sleep. Walking around the house again and going up to the second floor, he saw a bedroom with two rooms. First he entered the first one and saw two large beds there. First, without taking off his shoes, he decided to check them. I lay down on the first bed, but it turned out to be very hard, as if instead of a mattress there was a wooden board or a stone slab. Then he got down and tried to climb onto another one. The other bed, unfortunately, turned out to be too soft that he fell inside, as if into snowdrifts or something like quicksand. These two beds did not suit him and he went into the next room. And in the next room there seemed to be a children's room. On the ceiling, instead of a chandelier, there was a funny toy in the form of a sun and colorful balls around it. On the floor there was a toy box, which was empty for now, an exit to the balcony and a round rug. In the corner there was a very small bed, which was just his size. The nagas arranged this room in advance in case they did have children. Only one thing raised questions even for the little fox. Where are the owners of the house anyway? But he didn’t want to think, he wanted to sleep. Taking off his shoes and taking off his shoes, he made himself more comfortable on the very bed that was just right and fell asleep tired. He hoped that if someone lived here and saw him in bed, they would not scold him for entering without permission and would not mind that he came here tired to sleep.

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      The owners of the house themselves were already returning home in the late afternoon. Not only did they manage to meet a couple of passers-by and scare them, but even, just in case, they brought along a couple of game animals that they caught and picked cherries. When they crawled home, they were surprised. — Didn't understand. Why is our door open? — Silver asked and sniffed, smelling something. Then he grinned evilly. — Yeah! It looks like some uninvited guest has sneaked into our house. — Yes, I can smell it too. — Blaze said and sniffed harder. — So. He was alone, a little fox, about five or six years old... A boy. Sniffing, the nagas crawled into the house and, following the smell, first crawled into the kitchen. The blueberry pie had already cooled down by that time, but the strange smell ended near the empty plate. — I think I left a couple of lambs here that I didn’t finish. Someone seems to have eaten them. — said the hedgehog. — It’s strange that he didn’t eat my pie. — the cat thought, scratching the back of her head. — Maybe he doesn’t like pies, but likes something dry. — Don't know. But personally, I was hungry from the road. Let's have dinner first and then continue following the trail of the strange smell. — the husband suggested and the wife did not argue with him.

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      After snacking on blueberry pie, which turned out to be very tasty, and drinking tea, they crawled further along the smell left by Miles. Having crawled to the easel, the smell also stayed here longer. — Someone was painting on my easel. — said Silver and, sniffing even more, found three intact drawings on the floor and another crumpled one, next to the trash can. — O! Beautiful! — he said, first seeing a drawing of Miles himself and his parents. He even read out loud what was written in the drawing. — Mom. Dad. Miles. — Look! — Blaze said, picking up the crumpled drawing and straightening it. She and her husband saw in this image a red fox crossed out with a red cross. Apparently whoever drew her hated her to do this to her. Silver himself picked up two more drawings from the floor, and then examined them. On the one where a sad Miles was drawn with two stones and the names of mom and dad written on them, he immediately understood what was going on. This boy's parents died and were buried. But what's the matter? Blaze examined the drawing of the plague doctor and, understanding the reason for this, said out loud: — Plague!... In the nearest village, many were sick and dying. — It turns out that this boy... An unfortunate orphan?... Who was not even lucky with his stepmother? — suggested Silver. Holding the drawings in their hands, they crawled further along the scent left by Miles. They crawled first to their room and were surprised. — Who lay on my bed? — the hedgehog asked, and then he remembered. — A! It was him. — And mine too. — said the cat. Then they entered the next room, where this strange smell ended. They saw that little fox sleeping in a small bed, and his shoes apparently lay next to the bed. They immediately realized it was him. He snuck into their house, ate the remaining bagels, drew those four pictures and then looked for a bed to sleep. Any predator would have eaten him long ago, even while he was sleeping unsuspectingly. However, these did not do so. They immediately liked the baby. So lonely, unhappy and hungry. No mom, no dad, no home. As the nagas understood, comparing all the facts. — Maybe we can keep it with us? Let him live with us. — Blaze suggested, and Silver thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. Moreover, it's not even bad. It will be better for both of them, together with him. Since he has no home and no parents, and although they have a home, unfortunately they do not have children of their own. Let them at least have him as a son, and let them be like a new mom and dad to him. When the little fox heard her voice, he almost woke up. The nagas hedgehog and cat lightly crawled up to him, quietly shushed him, stroked him on the head and covered him more comfortably with a blanket. Let him sleep and rest. Then they quietly crawled out of the room and left him alone in the bedroom.