Have you ever met a very clever fox? Well, this one, with his bushy red tail and twinkling eyes, thought he was the cleverest creature in the whole wide wood.

One sunny morning, this Fox was strolling along, feeling very pleased with himself. He spotted a small, spiky Hedgehog waddling through the grass.

"Good morning, little Hedgehog!" called the Fox, with a sly grin. "I was just thinking about how wonderfully clever I am. I have at least a hundred different tricks to escape my enemies! I can zig, I can zag, I can hide in a hollow log, I can even run so fast they just see a blur!"

The Hedgehog blinked his beady eyes. "Oh, that's very impressive, Mr. Fox," he said in his quiet voice. "I only have one trick."

The Fox chuckled. "Just one? My, my! What good is just one little trick against fierce dogs or hunters?"

Suddenly, from the edge of the woods, came a loud sound: "BARK! BARK! WOOF!"
A pack of hunting dogs, followed by hunters, burst into view!

"Oh dear!" yelped the Fox. He started to run. "Should I zig? Or zag? Maybe that hollow log trick? Or should I try to outrun them?" He darted left, then right, then spun in a circle, trying to decide which of his hundred tricks to use. The dogs were getting closer!

The Hedgehog, however, didn't run at all. He simply did his one trick. WHOOSH! He curled himself up into a tight, prickly ball.

The dogs rushed past the confused Fox and came upon the spiky ball. One dog sniffed it. "Yipe!" it yelped, pricking its nose. Another dog tried to paw it, then quickly pulled back. The hunters saw the spiky ball and knew they couldn't do much with it. So, they all ran off, still chasing the very flustered Fox.

After a while, when all was quiet, the Hedgehog slowly uncurled. He was perfectly safe.

Later, a very tired and muddy Fox, who had barely escaped by squeezing into a tiny rabbit hole, saw the Hedgehog calmly munching on a beetle.

The Hedgehog looked up. He didn't say "I told you so." He didn't need to. The Fox understood that sometimes, one really good, simple trick is much better than a hundred complicated ones you can't decide between.

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