THE TAPESTRY OF FABLES

THE TREASURES WE KEEP

Now, let us begin our story.
Once, there was a certain Fox who was smitten.( As most of us have been at one time or the other, or
even now.)

The object of his affection was a vixen, who was apparently beautiful. She lived with her parents not far from her admirer's burrow.

Now, in the eyes of the fox none was fairer, none was more beautiful
This is usually the way of lovers, even among animals. Everyday he admired her and, soon very much desired to marry her.

However, having no strong means of livelihood, he decided to seek aid of his friends. They, having lent him money, accompanied him to the vixen's house, where he declared his intention to marry their daughter to her parents.

Weeks after the customary necessities, they were married.

The new couple moved into
the Fox's borrow as expected.

Now, the Fox was overjoyed at having married a beautiful wife. To him, it was akin to having his own sun
in his house. He was never tired of admiring his wife's beauty. Thus, he was very much devoted to his wife. She became his dearest of treasures.

Now, we must turn to the Vixen, who I'm afraid wasn't as devoted as her spouse. Beautiful she was, but
with a great case of vanity and selfishness. She was a classic case of the beautiful but ugly. It wasn't long
before she began to drive the fox to extreme lengths to satisfy her wants.

She always fond of reminding
her husband that: "Beautiful things deserve the best", and we know the best isn't gotten cheaply.

To maintain his wife's expensive taste for exquisite food like pheasant eggs, cucumbers and rarities brought from far away lands, which his wife believed improved beauty; he would borrow money from various friends, he would engage in various works; from dawn to dusk he was toiling. On returning home, there was hardly rest, for his wife would continue to pester him with demands.

"Anything for my beautiful wife," he
would always say and devotedly see to all the chores in the house. Of course his wife wouldn't lift a finger to do the chores. Once the fox had raised the issue, she refused, saying: "No! My beauty will be flawed by stress."
So, the fox was stressed both at home at work.

With the months that followed, he was very deep in debt, even his dearest of friends couldn't pity him. He had to work extra hard to pay back, extra harder to please his wife. Soon, many of his properties were sold to pay the debts.

He was poorer than he was in the beginning, yet his wife refused to give up her vanities. And as addicted as the fox was to the vixen, he couldn't but continue to indulge her costly appetites.

It reached a point, yes, that point of desperation where even good men turn to evil, the fox turned to stealing.

Under the cover of night, he would sneak into to neighboring farms to steal the choicest of fruits and
crops, to make meals for his lovely wife.

In time, he took to snatching the eggs of hens in the middle of the night, for his wife had a great liking for those.

The Fox on his part was drained, his beautiful wife was ruining him, and in fact killing him but he was too
blind to see it. He turned a blind eye to any advice that told him so.
"They are only jealous of my fortune to have married the most beautiful wife of all," he often said.
All was well, as far as he could please his wife.

The day came however, when all came tumbling down for this fox. While stealing for his wife, from a poultry, to get her beloved eggs, he was shot in the leg by a farmer. Somehow he managed to escape. But the harm done; he became lame in one foot.

He couldn't go to work for days, as it turned out, the wound was infected, and since he had no money for medicine, the fever spread rapidly over his body. His dear wife could only mourn the lack of her wants and couldn't bear tend to her husband's wound properly, which was nauseous to her.

In time, his sickness worsened. Finally, death came calling.

The fox sighed. "The things we love, perhaps too fiercely and unwisely ruin us." Alas, this sad soul died.

Now, what happened to the vain vixen? Well, obviously, she went on with her life. A few months later
after the Fox's death, she remarried a richer fox. After all, "Beautiful things deserve the best."

The Fox didn't see that behind the enchanting beauty was an ugliness that kept taking from him and
ruining him.
We should be careful of the treasures we keep, for some treasures truly don't pleasure but only pressure you, till you're undone - a treasure that doesn't enrich, but impoverishes.

A lesson our dear fox learnt the hard way, but you and I must now learn this lesson and live it out.

Make treasures of what, or should I say who makes a treasure of you. For surely where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
Dear friends choose carefully.

Thank you for reading!