Sleezy the Fox
Story 1: Sleezy Gets a Second Chance
By
William Forde
Published by William Forde
Cover Illustration by Dave Bradbury
Inner Illustrations by Joel Stephen Breeze
Copyright December 2011 by William Forde
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Author's Foreword
The late Princess Diana liked the 'Sleezy the Fox' stories so much that she phoned me when the two young princes, William and Harry, were aged 9 and 7 years old and asked that I send her a copy so that she could read it to her sons at bedtime. It is nice to know that the next King of England had your book read to him by his mother when he was a child!
Each of us shall experience or perpetrate some wrong in our lives. At the critical stage of reconciliation and healing, it is vitally important that we are able to give others and ourselves the benefit of a 'second chance'. And if you are like I used to be growing up, you may need to receive a 'second chance' many times before you eventually get it right.
In the four stories of 'Sleezy the Fox', one of the central characters, Gilbert Grim, is frequently referred to by other story characters as 'the fat farmer.' Despite it appearing politically incorrect to use, this reference is deliberately included by the author as it naturally helps to introduce the theme of the final story in the sequence which deals with the issue of name calling and bullying.
I rededicate this book to my sons, James and Adam who were the first to hear these stories many years before they were first published. I extend my thanks to artist, Dave Bradbury, for the beautiful book cover his art created and artist Joel Stephen Breeze for the inner illustrations in the four books.
William Forde, December, 2011.
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'Sleezy the Fox'
by
William Forde
Book One
'Sleezy gets a Second Chance'.
Many years ago, in a country called Transylvania, there were a great many angry farmers. The cause of their anger was a very clever fox called Sleezy. At the end of each day when their work was done, the farmers would put their chickens in the coop and their sheep in the pens. Every morning when they went out to start their next day's work, they found that one of their chickens had been stolen or one of their sheep had been killed. The only trace of the intruder was a set of fox's footprints in the ground!
All the farmers tried to catch this clever fox, but each one failed. Whatever kind of trap they set, the fox proved too clever for them. You see, Sleezy was no ordinary fox. He was probably the cleverest fox in the whole wide world!
One farmer dug a deep pit outside the entrance of the chicken coop and covered it up with twigs and leaves. He went to bed that night, convinced that his chickens would be protected as he slept, and that the trap would work if the fox came. The next morning he found the trap undisturbed and another chicken stolen. He was furious! He was angry to have had one of his best chickens stolen, but angrier still to have been outsmarted by a wild fox. "I just can't figure out how he did it!" the angry farmer exclaimed, as he tried to puzzle out how the fox had managed to get inside the chicken coop without falling down the trap he'd set.
Another farmer decided to hide inside the chicken coop all night long with a shotgun by his side. "He'll get no more of my chickens!" the farmer vowed. "Just let him poke his thieving face inside this chicken coop and I'll . . . . I'll blow his head off!"
At the appointed time when the sky had darkened, Sleezy saw the chicken coop in the distance and decided to check it out. He was a bit tired that day and didn't particularly feel like taking too many risks. All he felt like doing was to get in the coop, grab the fattest chicken and get back home for his supper feast of feathered chicken without the risk of capture. So not wishing to announce his presence, Sleezy crept up on the coop to 'case the joint' before he broke in and stole his supper.
As Sleezy got closer to the coop, his nose began to twitch excitedly with the smell of feathered chicken. Then, he sensed a different smell coming from the coop. It was a human smell. "Ah...ah! Is that a farmer that I can smell?" he asked himself. Sleezy crept up to the coop and peeked inside. "Oh, no! Oh no, Buster!" he told himself as he saw the concealed sniper with his shotgun at his side, ready to blow his head off as soon as he poked it inside the chicken coop. "Oh no, Buster! You're not going to get Sleezy so easily. You'll not blow my head off, Mate! You'll have to get up earlier in the morning to catch me out, Buster!"
Sleezy was far too wise for the poor unsuspecting farmer. Sleezy realized that where 'patience is a virtue,' the best thing to do where humans are concerned is simply to 'wait them out'. Unlike animals that spend most of their lives waiting around, humans are infinitely much more impatient. Sleezy knew that humans quickly tire and give up in their efforts.
For many hours the farmer managed to stay awake inside the chicken coop, but eventually as the night went on and on and on, he became so tired waiting for the fox that he fell fast asleep. Sleezy simply waited another 10 minutes after the farmer had fallen asleep and as the farmer's snoring loudened; the clever fox quietly entered the chicken coop, bopped the fattest chicken on the head and promptly left the scene of the crime with a sumptuous feathered chicken in his mouth.
When he woke up the following morning, the farmer was furious. As soon as he opened his eyes, he found that one of his best chickens had been stolen from the coop beneath his nose while he slept. He also found a note fastened on a piece of string, which the fox had tied around his neck while he slept.
The note read:
"Thank you for my chicken dinner, Buster. It was so kind of you to wait up for me. See you again soon."
'Sleezy the Fox' (The cleverest fox in the whole wide world).
The farmer was enraged and he screamed and pulled his hair out! He was angry to have had one of his best chickens stolen from under his nose, but angrier still to have been outsmarted and tagged by a wild fox while he slept on.
Over the coming months, the village farmers grew angrier and angrier. One by one, the clever fox stole chickens from every farm in the village, but try as they may; none of the farmers were clever enough to catch him.
Whenever Sleezy got hungry, he'd simply go on a chicken raid, stealing feathered chickens from the local farms. Whenever Sleezy got bored, he'd play a kind of bullying game with the farmers' sheep; particularly those in the flock which were slow of foot. He'd tease and taunt the farmers' sheep; chasing them round and round until the slowest among them dropped down dead with exhaustion!
Sleezy enjoyed giving the angry farmers and their sheep the run around; outfoxing each one of them in turn as they tried to trap him. It felt particularly satisfying to 'get one over' on the stupid humans who seemed unable to catch a cold unless it came up close and bopped them on the head!
At the end of each successful chicken raid, Sleezy would smugly congratulate himself and smugly remark, "They'll not catch me! Let them set their silly traps; I'll still outsmart them! I'm Sleezy, the cleverest fox in the whole wide world! They'll never catch me. Plonkers!"
As Sleezy grew older and more successful, he became over-confident and somewhat cocky in his chicken-raid exploits. Convinced that he was simply too clever to be caught, he grew contemptuous of the farmers' efforts to ensnare him and he began to live more dangerously. He needed a bit of buzz and excitement in his life, so he decided to 'even up the odds' of the helpless farmers.
Sometimes, whilst ou
t on a chicken raid, Sleezy would spy an unguarded chicken coop, filled to the brim with feathered chickens. But, instead of sneaking up on the chickens, he'd tell them he was on his way! He'd howl out a warning from the woodland's edge, informing them that he was 'coming for them now.' "Watch out, Chucky Chucky. Watch out! I'm coming to get you, Chucky Chucky! Sleezy's coming to get you now!"
Upon hearing the fox, the chickens in the crowded coop would fly into a panic. Loose feathers would fly everywhere as they clucked in fear and dived for cover. Upon hearing the noise of the frightened chickens, the farmer would rush out with his shotgun, prepared to protect his poultry from the prowling fox, threatening as he waved his gun, "Where is he? Show your face you........thieving vermin. Show your thieving face and I'll......I'll blow it off!"
Sleezy was very clever though and would always position himself beyond the firing range of the farmer's double-barrelled shotgun as he announced his presence. Upon seeing the fox in the distance sitting there, the angry farmer would fire at him.
The clever fox would wait until the angry farmer had discharged both barrels of the shotgun. Then, instead of running for cover 'away' from the farmer; once both shots had been fired at him, Sleezy would run as fast as his legs would carry