In a cozy forest, where the trees touched the sky, lived Mrs. Eagle. Her nest was way, way up in the tallest oak tree. Right at the bottom of that same tree, in a snug den among the roots, lived Mrs. Fox.

Mrs. Eagle and Mrs. Fox were good buddies. "We'll always help each other!" they'd say. They pinky promised to be kind and look out for one another's children.

One sunny afternoon, Mrs. Eagle’s tummy rumbled. She was very hungry, and so were her little eaglets. She looked down and saw Mrs. Fox’s little cubs playing near their den. "Hmm," thought Mrs. Eagle, forgetting all about her promise.

Swoosh! Down she flew and grabbed one tiny cub in her strong talons. Up, up, up she soared, back to her nest.

"Oh no!" cried Mrs. Fox from below. "My baby! Please, please bring my baby back, Mrs. Eagle! We are friends!"

But Mrs. Eagle just looked down. She was too high up to worry much about Mrs. Fox.

Mrs. Fox was so sad and a little bit angry. She couldn’t fly. She couldn’t climb that super tall tree. What could she do? She paced back and forth, thinking hard.

Then, she spotted something. Some campers had left a fire nearby, and a stick was still glowing with red hot embers. Quick as a flash, Mrs. Fox grabbed the glowing stick carefully in her mouth.

She ran to the bottom of the oak tree and shouted, "Mrs. Eagle! If you don’t bring my cub back right now, I’ll set this whole tree on fire! Your nest and your eaglets will burn too!"

Mrs. Eagle looked down. She saw the glowing stick and the determined look on Mrs. Fox’s face. She thought about her own little eaglets in the nest. If the tree burned, they would all be in big trouble! She didn't want that!

"Okay, okay!" she squawked, suddenly very worried. "Don't do that! I'll bring your cub back!"

Very carefully, Mrs. Eagle flew down and gently placed the little fox cub back on the ground. Mrs. Fox quickly dropped the glowing stick and hugged her baby tight.

And Mrs. Eagle learned that day that even if you are big and strong, it’s never a good idea to be mean to your friends, especially when they are clever and brave enough to stand up for themselves.

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