The Cunning
Little Vixen

In the forest life continually wakes anew. Instead of going home, where his wife is waiting for him, the forester lies down in a clearing for a nap. In his sleep dream mingles with reality. Only when a young vixen attracts him in a magically erotic way is the forester startled. He drags her home with him.

At the forester’s house the little vixen gets to know animals that came to an arrangement with humanity long ago: Whilst the old dog compensates for his unrequited love by composing, the good hens go about their daily business under the supervision of the arrogant cock. But the vixen doesn’t want to be domesticated. When she bites one of the forester’s children, he puts her on a leash. At night the tied up vixen dreams of her independence and the next morning she incites the hens to revolt against the cock. But the chickens don’t want freedom. The cunning little vixen pretends to be dead to take the cock by surprise and rips out the throat of the chickens by the row. The horrified forester’s wife demands that the forester shoot the little vixen. But she outwits him and runs away.

Free in the forest, the vixen meets a badger who acts like a moral guardian. She throws him out of his den without further ado and moves into it herself – all to the great joy of the female inhabitants of the forest.

The forester, schoolmaster and parson are playing cards at the inn at the table reserved for regulars. As always, the forester mocks the schoolmaster for his infatuation with a certain Terynka, whereupon the schoolmaster spitefully asks him about his adventure with the vixen that escaped. To avoid quarrelling, the schoolmaster takes his leave and, when a horde of furious villagers ask for the parson, he also takes flight. Left with the bill, the forester suddenly thinks he sees the vixen and rushes after her.

Whilst he staggers home alone, the schoolmaster philosophises about life. When the fleeting object of his desire appears to him, he worships it and runs after it. The parson also has disappointment in love to bemoan and rails against the wickedness of the world. After a moment of seeming enlightenment, he suddenly sees himself again together with the forester and the schoolmaster at the table, on which the vixen is now dancing. Once again the forester wants to shoot her, but she escapes again.

In the forest the vixen meets a handsome fox. She falls in love with the gallant gentleman immediately, but can’t believe that he also finds her desirable and struggles with a fear of commitment. He helps her to overcome this and finally she gives herself to him. Shortly after the vixen is pregnant. They quickly get married. The whole forest celebrates the happy couple and their offspring with singing and dancing.

Summer is followed by autumn and winter. In the forest the forester waylays the sinister Harašta, whom he suspects of poaching. But Harašta won’t let himself be caught and follows the forester like a shadow, telling him of his upcoming marriage to the lady of all hearts – Terynka. In a turmoil, the forester then lays bait to hunt down the vixen. The fox family sees through the trap immediately. When the vixen faces up to the hunter alone and mocks him, she is killed by his shot.

In the forester’s house life goes on. The parson moved away long ago and the forester misses him, especially as he can’t talk to the schoolmaster any more, who is in mourning for his lost love. Spring lures the forester into the forest again. Moved by the circle of life, he sees ghosts who remind him of the wonders of creation that most people blindly pass by.