Somehow, we imagine foxes to be more than they really are as author Josephine Johnson confesses,
“The fox seems fast and fearless, clever and cunning, and without manners or moral or scruples, a legend of freedom, and I had long found release in this private image in my heart. When harassed by those affairs in life for which I am not well fitted—those which require grace or authority, political acumen, wit or social ease; weddings and meetings, funerals and gatherings; or when, bewildered by the constant domestic matters where the warm maternal wisdom and patience are drawn in as though they were from an unfailing spring, instead of a cistern much in need of rain—then, tormented by conflicting voices, by inadequate responses, by lack of wit or wisdom (or even the answer to Who-the-hell-are-you?) the self sought relief in the heart’s image of the wild free fox.”
-From “The Inland Island” by Josephine Johnson
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I love the fox and I am so glad you posted this! They are wonderful little creatures! When we lived in Texas there was a grey fox that had kits that lived near our farmland home. As you can well imagine, we also had many coyote visitors there. One year we saw a lone coyote very often following the calves in the pasture, eating their dung. He was smaller than the other other coyotes and had a very bushy tail. I wondered then if he could be a loner because he was the result of a breeding of fox and coyote. I know different species have been known to cross-breed in the wild, and would have loved to know for sure about this sad little guy. I never knew either what happened to him. His hunting had to be badly curtailed being on his own, evidenced by eating the calves dung. I'm sure he also had plenty of mice and voles to eat as well. But, he couldn't have fared very well.
ReplyDeleteHello Tile Lady.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting remembrance. I'm glad I was able to spark it.