The Fox and the Moon

Once upon a night there lived a fox. The fox decided that he would come out to see what the world was like and what other animals would be out and about. He saw wolves, raccoons, owls, and more of the like, but what got his attention was this bright sphere in the sky. He was enamored by the moon. Your soft and gentle shimmering light has me entranced in your beauty, thought the Fox.

“You are not the first that has fallen for my beauty,” the Moon said to him as she caught him staring.

With the Fox’s embarrassment to being caught, the Moon sought to ease his mind in making sure she signaled it was of no offense. In fact, it made her that much closer to calling it love. They stayed up talking with each other. “You look so tired my dear why don’t you sleep?”

“I asked myself why does something so bright and so beautiful yet she feels so alone?” the Moon smiled her brightest smile yet. But morning came and it was time to both to say their goodbyes.

The second night came around and this time they both knew the other was falling in love “I know what you are Fox; I have dealt with your kind before”

“This time will be different. This time I will prove to you that not all foxes are the same.”

The fox stayed out with his lover all night to make sure she too would get her rest for she shone for everyone else but herself. It was morning and the both had done leave each other again.

The third night, the Moon woke up from her slumber and was overwhelmed with excitement to see her fox again. But as the night went by the fox was nowhere to be seen. “I should have known. Why did I fall for this fox when I know their cunning ways.” At that she was no full moon but a half-moon for a darkness of a doubt came about her. “My lover just forgot that’s all,” she told herself, “He will be right here tomorrow.”

The fourth night, the Moon returned, radiant with hope, draped in silver silence. She searched the forest floor for the soft glint of russet fur —but there was nothing. No eyes gazing up. No voice whispering her name. Only wind and leaves that refused to speak.

She waited until dawn, still, glowing faintly in her longing. And just as she began to drift behind the horizon, she saw him — not alone, but with another.

The Fox laughed beneath the stars, brushing close to a sleek vixen with midnight fur. He nuzzled her neck as he once had done to the Moon with his words. The same lines. The same charm. But this time meant for someone else. A mortal like him. A creature of the earth.

The Moon felt herself dim. Not because her light had faded — but because her heart had. How cruel it is, she thought, to be eternal and fall for those who are only passing through.

“How?! Why would you do this to me?” she cried, her voice echoing in canyons and clouds. “You promised. You promised you were different.”

But the Fox never looked up that night. For those who bask in a new fire often forget the one that first warmed them.

A sliver of her heart closed. Her once-full light became a half-moon, a wound carved from trust. Still, she rose, but not for him.

Darkness lured over the land as the moon turned her back against it, but just as there was still a glimpse of light left an owl heard her cry. “Whatever is the matter my dear?”

“Why do I trust so easily? How do I kill this curse of feeling deeply more than others?”

“You are a believer in others. You see the good when they cannot - calling forth their light, even as they are surrounded by shadow. However, such a gift has its price. While they rest you remain - bearing heartbreak. Still, you rise. Still, you shine. And that, dear Moon, is what makes you holy. That is why even the broken look up – to see you burning brighter than the dark.”