The Fox Sister

The fox sister

Was the youngest

Of four

Three older brothers

A father

A mother

And the fox sister

Looked like a girl

The father had prayed

For a daughter

To clean his house

And fetch him water

His boys were healthy

And smart

And strong

But the father knew

It wouldn’t be long

Before they were grown

And in homes of their own

His girl arrived

After prayer and pleas

But when she was born

She made everyone freeze

For she was a fox

A sly one at that

And within days of her birth

She ate the house cat

The fox sister

Ate cows

And hens

And sows

She chased her brothers

So far away

When they told their father

That she could not stay

Then she ate their father

And mother

And other fathers and mothers

Whoever got

In her way

One of her brothers

Ran to the home

Of Surly Sam Sulfur

The village’s gnome

The gnome gave the brother

Three bottles

One red

One blue

One almost too blue

The brother returned

To the home

With the bottles

He’d been given

From Surly Sam Sulfur

The gnome

He found his sister

Chewing on

The village baker’s

Upper right arm

He threw the red bottle

And a fire appeared

But foxes fear no fire

And she blew it out

With one quick shout

And told her brother

To get out of there

But he threw the blue bottle

And a river rose up

But the fox sister took

Her favorite cup

And drank the whole river

Drank it right up

Then laughed at her brother

And told him

He could also

Go in her cup

Finally he threw

The too blue bottle

And the ghosts of all

Who had been eaten

Appeared to fight

The fox sister

And this, for her

Might have been the end

For a ghost to a fox

Is no kind of friend

She tried to bite

And claw

And tussle

But nobody hustles

Like half-eaten ghosts hustle

Soon the fox sister

Was trapped in a cage

And in being held captive

She felt such a rage

That all of her being

Exploded in light

And when it was done

All felt all right

The brother moved back

Into his old family home

And gave all his thanks

To the ghosts and the gnome

He married that summer

And had three daughters

But never a son

Three children was fine

And so he was done