This story comes from a land where the tradition of store ytelling has been long established. It has been the favourite activity at Lao gatherings (at the ‘baci’ - the term for any type of Lao party), after the eating, drinking and ceremonies are over to either listen or tell a story. The tradition is an oral one and there exist many hundreds of stories most of which have never been written down.

The great man of Lao literature, Maha Sila Viravong, who passed away recently, was known by all his countrymen to be a master storyteller and he could entertain his listeners till all hours with his artful accounts. His daughters Dara Kanlanya and Duong Deuane Boun-Nhavong now carry out the work of writing down some of these folk tales in Laos which combine the gentle Buddhist traditions with simple earthy fun, tales in which men, animals and gods converse with each other about any subject under the sun.

Once upon a time there was a family living in a forest. They had a rooster and a hen. One day the family went away to visit relatives in another village.

At that time the hen which belonged to that family was going to lay some eggs. Her husband, the rooster was very worried and went to look for a comfortable place for his wife. Finally, he found a basket in the kitchen in which the hen laid her eggs. She was very proud of herself and called out happily as all hens do after laying.

In the forest there lived a fox. When he heard the hen’s cries, he thought about his next meal. So he went close to the house and saw that a hen and a rooster were living there.

When the rooster was outside he went into the house and he saw the hen in the basket. When the hen saw the fox, she became very frightened.

The fox said in a very nice sly way, "Hello, Miss Hen."

The hen said, "Don’t come near me. I’m married. You frighten me."

The fox said, "Don’t be afraid. I’ve fallen in love with you because you are so beautiful. Although you are married, you are still beautiful."

The hen was pleased with these nice words when she heard them. She forgot the fox was her enemy and she talked to him nicely.

"Am I really pretty?" she asked, shyly.

The fox answered," Yes. Your feathers are as beautiful as the moon. If you close your eyes and breathe deeply you will look even more beautiful."

So the hen closed her eyes. The fox seized her and took her away to the forest. The rooster heard the hen’s cries for help but it was too late - he had lost his wife and he was very upset. He stopped crowing in the mornings. The house became very quiet and everyone was sad.

In the kitchen, the bowl felt very sad because the rooster did not crow anymore and he did not pick up the grains of rice from the ground. So he went to ask the rooster what had happened. The rooster told the bowl and asked for his help. The bowl was a friend of the stick; the stick was a friend of the firewood; the firewood was a friend of the bucket and the bucket was a friend of the wasp. So all of these friends came together to make a plan to help the rooster. They prepared to fight.

After a long meeting they finally decided that the rooster should invite the fox into the house. The wasp told everyone what to do to the fox. So the rooster went up onto the roof of the house and called out, "You’ve eaten my wife. Now come and eat me."

The fox came running. He was delighted to see his next meal on top of the house.

The rooster then went inside the house and told the fox to follow him.

"Don’t be afraid," he said, "just close your eyes.

Once he was inside the house, the door closed behind him and everyone in the kitchen came to attack him. The fox tried to escape but he could not.